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American i^tetorical Setter 

GENERAL EDITOR 

CHARLES H. HASKINS 

Professor of History in Harvard University 



Hmerican Historical Series 

Under the Editorship of Charles H. Haskins, Professor of History in Harvarq 
University 

A series of text-books intended, like the American Science 
Series, to be comprehensive, systematic, and authoritative. 

Ready 
Europe Since 1815. 

By Charles D. Hazen, formerly Professor in Smith College. 

Historical Atlas. 

By William R. Shepherd, Professor in Columbia University. 

Atlas of Ancient History. 

By W. R. Shepherd. 

History of England. 

By L. M. Larson, Professor in the University of Illinois. 

History of American Diplomacy. 

By Carl Russell Fish, Professor in the University of Wisconsin. 

In preparation 

Medieval and Modern Europe. 

By Charles W. Colby, Professor in McGill University. 

The Reformation. 

By Preserved Smith. 

The Renaissance. 

By Ferdinand Schevill, Professor in the University of Chicago. 

Europe in the XVII. and XVIII. Centuries. 

By Sidney B. Fay, Professor in .Smith College. 

History of Greece. 

By Paul Shorey, Professor in the University of Chicago. 

History of Rome. 

By Jesse B. Carter, Director of the American School of Classical 
Studies at Rome. 

History of Germany. 

By Guy Stanton Ford, Professor in the University of Minnesota. 

History of the United States. 

By Frederick J. Turner, Professor in Harvard University. 




Statue of Lord Chatham 

In St. Stephen's Hall, Westminster. By D. Macdowell, R.A. Copyright by 

Sir Benjamin Stone 



A SHORT 

HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE 



BY 

LAURENCE M; LARSON 

PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN THE 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 



WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 




NEW YORK 
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 



&5 



Copyright, 1915 

BY 
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 



SEP 231915 



©CU411657 

/to/. 



PREFACE 

In this volume an attempt has been made to trace the growth of 
the English nation from its faint and unpromising beginnings in 
the early middle ages to the opening years of the twentieth cen- 
tury. During this period the little kingdom of the West Saxons 
has developed into an empire, the most extensive and the most 
diverse in all history. A subject of such dimensions may be 
viewed from many different angles; in this case the writer has 
tried to discuss it from the view point of his American readers. 
Certain important periods of English history are in a very real 
sense our own history: the beginnings of the American Republic 
were also the beginnings of the British Empire; and our country 
is still a part of the great empire of English culture. That the 
United States has inherited much of its constitutional system from 
Great Britain is a fact that needs no emphasis; but even greater 
is our English inheritance in the fields of literature, religion, ideals, 
and general culture. 

In the building of American civilization we have drawn ma- 
terials from nearly all the cultivated peoples of the world; but 
the greatest single element in our culture is still the English. 
With the English language we have inherited the treasures of 
English thought. The non-conformist churches, for example, 
had their origin in the storm and stress of the Puritan Revolution, 
but in no other country have they taken root and developed 
strength as in the United States. It is therefore believed that a 
study of English history from a view point that is not too narrowly 
British cannot fail to give a deeper insight into the development 
of American life and thought and civilization. At the same time 
an effort has been made to give prominence to those facts of Eng- 
lish history that lie at the root of our own social and political 
development. Throughout the seventeenth and most of the 



viii PREFACE 

eighteenth centuries, the larger movements in the British Tsles 
were also felt in the colonies and frequently gave a definite turn 
to the course of American history. 

A narrative that takes into account the expansion of England 
into Greater Britain necessarily carries the author far afield. To 
compress the story into a small manual like the present means 
that the topics to be discussed must be carefully chosen and a 
mass of interesting and even important materials must be excluded. 
The type of text-book that attempts to tell the story of national 
development with a fulness of detail is the despair of the teacher 
of history: the facts come in such throngs that very few of them 
are able to make any lasting. impression. The author has striven 
to avoid this by including such facts only as have seriously affected 
the course of English history or have definitely contributed to 
the building of the British Empire. It is, of course, true that the 
demands of the narrative have frequently interfered with the con- 
sistent application of this rule, but in the main it has been followed. 

The value of the study of history in its general and elementary 
phases probably is to be found, not so much in the acquisition of 
a wide knowledge of facts as in the insight acquired into the larger 
events and movements. It is indeed true, that such insight must 
grow out of the mastery of certain important data, which must 
consequently be clearly and accurately stated. Too often, how- 
ever, the permanent result is apparently lost sight of in the effort 
to give a satisfactory narrative. In this work, matter that has 
illustrative value only has generally been omitted, that the space 
thus saved may be used for a fuller discussion of the more impor- 
tant topics. It is believed, however, that, if some use is made of 
the materials referred to in the footnotes or in the lists of refer- 
ences at the close of the various chapters, the teacher will find an 
abundance of illustrative data. It is also hoped that the use 
of these references will assist the teacher to get away from a cer- 
tain type of recitation which is satisfied with a mere recital of the 
facts mentioned in the text-book. 

In the preparation of this volume the author has received 
assistance from many sources. Dean Charles H. Haskins of 



PREFACE ix 

Harvard University, the editor of this series, has followed the 
work through all its various stages and has contributed much in 
the way of criticisms, suggestions, and corrections. Prof. E. B. 
Greene of the University of Illinois has read most of the chapters 
that deal with the more modern part of English history, and 
Prof. Frederick Duncalf of the University of Texas has rendered 
a similar service for the earlier chapters. Dr. A. C. Cole of the 
University of Illinois has read the proof sheets of the entire work. 
My wife, Lillian May Larson, has assisted in a great variety of 
ways since the work was begun. Mr. W. H. Dudley of the Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin has contributed a number of photographs, the 
work of his own camera. To all these persons the author wishes 
to confess his indebtedness and express his thanks. 

L. M. L. 
University of Illinois, 
June, 1915. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I. The Beginnings of England i 

II. The Old English Monarchy 25 

III. England under Norman Rule 5 2 

IV. The Conflict with the Church and the Baronage . . 77 
V. The Beginnings of Nationalism m 

VI. The British Idea and the War with France 132 

VII. Social and Political Revolution i57 

VIII. The Fifteenth Century: The Renaissance 187 

IX. The Eve of the Protestant Revolt 214 

X. The Revolt from Rome 236 

XI. The Protestant Advance and the Catholic Reaction . 256 

XII. The Triumph of Anglicanism 272 

XIII. The Age of Elizabeth 293 

XIV. The Rise of the Puritan Party 3°9 

XV. The Failure of Personal Government 33 2 

XVI. The Age of Cromwell 354 

XVII. The Stuart Restoration 374 

XVIII. The Whig Revolution . 397 

XIX. The Long Duel with France 416 

XX. The Rule of the Whigs 437 

XXI. The Age of Pitt ..." 455 

XXII. The Revolt of the American Colonies 47 1 

XXIII. The Eighteenth Century 49 1 

XXIV. The Great War with France 5 I 3 

XXV. Social and Political Reforms 535 

XXVI. Palmerston and the Empire 557 

XXVII. Gladstone and the Problem of Ireland 576 

XXVIII. The Unionists and the British Empire 59 6 

XXIX. England in the Twentieth Century 617 

Index 6 45 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 

Statue of Lord Chatham in St. 

Stephen's Hall, Westminster 

Frontispiece 

Stonehenge 4 

Hadrian's Wall 7 

Rood Strips and Balks, Bygrave, 

Hertfordshire 12 

Ruins of Whitby Abbey ... 16 

The Church at Escomb, Durham 1 7 

Benedictine Monk 18 

Durham Cathedral 21 

Viking Ship 26 

The Alfred Jewel 30 

Ruins of Hyde Abbey, Winches- 
ter S3 

Danish Runic Monument ... 34 

Agriculture in Old English Times 36 

Anglo-Saxon Weapons .... 41 

Battle Abbey 47 

Norman Warriors Riding to 

Battle 48 

William Sailing to England . . 49 

Seal of William the Conqueror . 50 
Ideal Plan of a Twelfth Century 

Castle 52 

Hawking 53 

Carts and Oxteams, Eleventh 

Century 55 

William the Conqueror's Writ 

and Seal 50 

Part of a Page from Domesday 

Book 60 

Gloucester Cathedral 63 

The Tower of London .... 66 

Keep of Castle Rising .... 73 



Kirkstall Abbey 74 

Canterbury Cathedral .... 80 
The Murder of Becket .... 84 
The Martyr's Corner, Canter- 
bury Cathedral 85 

Ceremony of Conferring Knight- 
hood Q4 

Papal Bull of Alexander III . . 101 
The Great Charter, first 25 lines, 

greatly reduced 106 

The Great Charter, part of the 
illustration preceding, four- 
fifths the size of the original 107 

A Church Council 117 

Lincoln Cathedral 118 

The Hall, Acton Burnell, Shrop- 
shire 121 

A Monk in His Study .... 126 

Glastonbury Abbey 127 

Salisbury Cathedral 130 

Carnarvon Castle 135 

The Bruce Statue, Stirling . . 143 

Stirling Castle 145 

Melrose Abbey 147 

Drawbridge, Fourteenth Cen- 
tury 152 

The Steelyard in the Seventeenth 

Century 159 

Crossbow Used at Crecy . ... 168 
English Archers and Gunman of 

the Fifteenth Century . .- . 16S 

John WyclifTe 171 

Geoffrey Chaucer 176 

The "Wife of Bath" 177 

Fourteenth Century Writing . 180 



XIV 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 

Coronation of Henry IV . ... 183 

The Battle of Shrewsbury ... 184 
The Home of Joan of Arc at 

Domremy 191 

Joan of Arc 192 

Fifteenth Century Artillery . . 194 
Margaret of Anjou, Queen of 
Henry VI, and Ladies of Her 

Court 196 

Warwick Castle 201 

The Earliest Picture of a Printing 

Press 204 

Reproduction of a Caxton Adver- 
tisement 205 

John Colet 206 

Ships of the Fifteenth Century . 209 

Edward IV 210 

A King in His Royal Robes . . 212 

A Courtier in Court Dress ... 212 

Henry VII 214 

Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scot- 
land 221 

Thomas, Cardinal Wolsey ... 224 

Desiderius Erasmus 229 

Henry VIII 236 

Thomas Cranmer 242 

St. Edmund's Abbey 247 

Tintern Abbey 248 

Edward Seymour, Duke of Som- 
erset 257 

Mary Tudor 263 

Reginald, Cardinal Pole . . . 266 

Martyrs' Memorial, Oxford . . 269 

Queen Elizabeth 273 

William Cecil, Lord Burleigh . 274 

Mary Stuart 280 

John Knox 281 

Loch Leven Castle 283 

Philip II 287 

The English Send Fire Ships into 

the Armada 290 

Ann Hatha way's Cottage, Strat- 
ford 294 



PAGE 

Sir Francis Drake 296 

Drake's "Golden Hind" . . . 297 

Sir Walter Raleigh 298 

Edmund Spenser 301 

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre . 302 
The Shakespeare Memorial, 

Stratford 304 

The Fleet Prison 310 

James I 315 

The Brewster House, Scrooby . 317 

Old London Bridge 319 

Charles I . . . 323 

Westminster in the Seventeenth 

Century 327 

John Hampden 336 

The Old Star Chamber, West- 
minster 337 

Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh . . 342 
Thomas Wentworth, Earl of 

Strafford 344 

John Pym 345 

Nottingham Castle (restored) . 351 

Oliver Cromwell 355 

Sir Henry Vane, the Younger . . 357 

Admiral Robert Blake .... 369 

General Monk 375 

Charles II 376 

Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon 377 
Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of 

Shaftesbury 385 

Coffee-Room in Cheshire Cheese 

Inn 388 

John Milton 390 

John Bunyan's Meeting House, 

South London 391 

John Dryden 392 

Choir of St. Paul's, London . . 393 

Isaac Newton 395 

James II 401 

Magdalen Tower and Quad- 
rangle, Oxford 405 

The Seven Bishops on their 

Way to the Tower 406 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



xv 



PAGE 

William III 416 

Queen Anne 424 

John Churchill, Duke of Marl- 
borough 425 

Henry St. John, Lord Boling- 

broke 434 

No. 10 Downing Street .... 440 

Sir Robert Walpole 442 

A Highland Cottage 447 

The House of Commons in 1742 451 

Robert, Lord Clive 461 

George III 471 

An English Revenue Stamp . . 475 

Lord North 478 

Edmund Burke 485 

The Sleeping Congregation . . 496 

John Wesley 497 

The Spinning Jenny 501 

James Watt 503 

Captain Cook 509 

William Pitt, the Younger . . 510 

The Bank of England .... 517 

Napoleon 519 

Lord Nelson 525 

Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wel- 
lington . . . 531 

Robert Stewart, Lord Castle- 

reagh 540 

George Canning 541 

Daniel O'Connell 542 

Lord John Russell 543 

Houses of Parliament, London . 547 

"Puffing Billy" 549 



"The Rocket" 549 

The Manchester Ship Canal. . 551 

Queen Victoria 552 

Henry John Temple, Viscount 

Palmerston 558 

Parliament Buildings, Ottawa . 559 
A Wool Train in Australia . . 561 
Thackeray's Free-Trade Car- 
toon 562 

Sir Robert Peel 563 

Florence Nightingale 570 

The Old East India House, Lon- 
don 571 

Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Bea- 

consfield 577 

William Ewart Gladstone ... 578 

Charles Stewart Parnell ... 586 

Joseph Chamberlain 589 

Edward VII 592 

Arthur James Balfour .... 594 

Majuba Hill 600 

General Charles George Gordon 601 

Governor's Palace Khartoum . 602 

Cecil Rhodes 603 

Lord Kitchener of Khartoum 605 
The University, Sydney, Austra- 
lia 609 

(a) Winnipeg in 1870 612 

(ft) Winnipeg in 191 2 613 

The Cabinet Room 620 

David Lloyd George 624 

H. H. Asquith 627 

George V 628 



MAPS 

IN COLORS 

PAGE 

The British Isles i 

Ecclesiastical Map of England and Wales 248 

England during the Civil War 354 

The Thirteen American Colonies in 1775 474 

India in 1858 570 

Africa in 1914 597 

Australia and New Zealand 610 

Canada and Newfoundland 612 

County Map of England and Wales 618 

The British Empire in 1914 638 

IN BLACK 

English Settlements in Great Britain about 600 9 

The English Kingdoms about 800 22 

Scandinavian Settlements: Britain and Normandy 28 

Wessex about 886 32 

Viking Raids in England, 980-1016 &. 42 

Dominions of William I 75 

The Angevin Empire 79 

Ireland in the Middle Ages 87 

Wales in 1282 134 

Scotland about 800 137 

Southern Scotland in the days of Bruce 144 

France in 1328 15° 

France at the Treaty of Bretigny, 1360 154 

The Chief Wool-raising Districts in England and Wool-manufacturing 

Towns in the Netherlands 158 

Modern Scotland 226 

The Shores of the Narrow Seas 4*7 

India during the Seven Years' War 4° 7 

Distribution of Population in South Britain, Prior to and After the Indus- 
trial Revolution * 507 

xvi 



MAPS xvii 

PAGE 

Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October, 1805 r 24 

Europe about 1812 - 2 g 

The Suez Canal 604 

The Boer Republics till 1902 5 g 

London and Westminster 5 x g 

The Elections of 1906 and January, 1910 626 



LIST OF BOOKS 

REFERRED TO IN THE FOOT NOTES BY THE AUTHORS' NAMES ONLY 

A 

Bates, Katharine Lee, and Katharine Comans English History Told by 
English Poets. New York, 191 1. 

Cheyney, E. P. Readings in English History. Boston, [1908] . 

Gardiner, S. R. A Student's History of England. London, 1906. 

Innes, A. D. Source Book of English History. 2 vols. Cambridge, 1912-1914. 

Kendall, Elizabeth K. Source Book of English History. New York, 1908. 

Masterman, J. H. B. A History of the British Constitution. London, 191 2. 

Robinson, J. H. Readings in European History. Boston, Ginn. (One-volume 
Edition.) 

Tuell, Harriet E., and R. W. Hatch Selected Readings in English History. 
Boston, [1913]. 



A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

CHAPTER I 
THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND 

1. The British Isles. Just off the northwestern coast of 
Europe lies the British archipelago, the most important single 
group of islands in the world. But though the British Isles 
count perhaps more than one thousand separate islands, only 
two of these are of any considerable size : Great Great Britain 
Britain and Ireland dominate the entire group, and Ireland. 
The smaller islands, many of which are mere inhabited rocks, 
are grouped about these two with the greater number lying 
in a broken, irregular line along the western coast of the larger 
island of Great Britain. Some of these form The lesser 
minor groups, such as the Scilly, the Hebrides, lslands - 
and the Orkney Islands. At the same time, several of the 
more important ones, like the Isle of Wight, Man, and Anglesea, 
lie detached and alone, though not far from the larger islands. 
It seems that nature has intended this archipelago to be a 
political as well as a geographical unit ; and the history of 
England is in a large measure the story of how the unification 
of the British Isles has been achieved. English history, there- 
fore, concerns itself finally with the whole of Britain ; still, 
its chief field is the southern kingdom on the island of Great 
Britain. 

2. The Island of Great Britain. 1 This island is a large, irreg- 
ular body of land, nearly six hundred miles in length from 
north to south. It is widest at the south (the dis- Extent of 
tance from the Forelands of Kent to Land's End Great Britain - 
in Cornwall is more than three hundred miles) and gradually 
grows narrower as it extends northward, until in the region 

1 Cheyney, No. 6. 

i 



2 THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND 

between the Forth and the Clyde it becomes almost an isthmus 
with a distance across of less than forty miles. North of this 
narrow neck are the rough Highlands of Scotland ; to the south 
are the Lowlands, which are virtually an extension of the English 
plain. The backbone of the island is formed by a low but 
rough range of highland some twenty miles across, the Pennine 
The Pennine range, which runs southward from the Scottish 
range. Highlands into the center of England where it 

terminates in the Peak near Derby. A more or less broken 
range of hills continues the watershed southward and south- 
westward, until it terminates in the highlands of the Cornish 
peninsula. The Pennine range is important, not only as a crest 
which gives direction to some of the larger streams, but also 
as a barrier which served in earlier times to check the spread of 
settlement and the progress of invasion. In the many wars 
between England and Scotland this central hill country deter- 
mined the routes taken by the invading armies ; these will 
always be found to run near the eastern or the western 
coast. 

3. The Rivers of Great Britain. As the distance from 
the watershed to either shore is not great, the island has no 
rivers of great length ; but streams are plentiful and this fact 
secures the drainage that is necessary to successful grazing and 
agriculture. Many of these short streams, especially those of 
northern England, run a swift course ; this means water power 
with its great possibilities in an age of manufacturing by ma- 
chinery. Most of the rivers of Great Britain discharge their 
The larger waters through wide channels : the Thames, the 
streams. Humber, the Severn, and the Clyde furnish the 

most striking examples of this type of river mouth. There is, 
consequently, no lack of deep and spacious harbors or other 
natural facilities for trade and shipping. Near these river 
mouths have grown up such important commercial towns as 
Commercial Liverpool, Bristol, Hull, Glasgow, and the mighty 
centers. c j t y f London. In the earlier ages, however, the 

streams of Great Britain had but slight commercial value : in 



THE STONE AGE: EARLY COMMERCE 3 

those days their chief importance was as highways leading into 
the interior. 

4. The Natural Resources of England. Deep below the 

beds of the northern rivers lie other sources of wealth and 

power in the form of vast mineral deposits, par- „ , 

- Coal and iron, 
ticularly coal and iron. The natural resources of 

this region have made the borders of the Pennine range one of 
the greatest industrial centers of the earth. Lancashire and 
the western part of Yorkshire, which for centuries were only 
sparsely populated, now count their inhabitants by the mil- 
lion. This, however, is a comparatively recent development, 
less than two centuries old. It was, indeed, the mineral wealth 

of the island that attracted the merchants of the „ 

Tin. 
Mediterranean lands more than two thousand 

years ago ; but it was the tin of Cornwall and Devon, 1 not the 
coal and iron of Wales and northern England. 

Before the vast growth in manufacturing in the eighteenth 
century, England was chiefly an agricultural country. The 
population was massed on the great plain of the . . 
south and southeast, where soil and climate com- 
bine to produce luxuriant growth of grass and grain. Occa- 
sional ranges of low hills cut this plain; but these, though 
unsuited to cultivation, have been found to furnish excellent 
pasturage for sheep. 2 The South Downs, a range The trade 
of hills that runs for more than one hundred miles m w ° o1 - 
parallel to the Channel in Sussex and Hampshire, have given their 
name to a breed of sheep that is still famous. Another splendid 
breed was developed on the Cotswold Hills near the Bristol Chan- 
nel. For several centuries the wool of England formed its most 
important article of export. The great cloth manufacturing in- 
dustries of present day England have developed from this early 
trade in wool ; for the time came when it was found more 
profitable to sell the fleece in the form of woven cloth. 

5. The Stone Age : Early Commerce. 3 Commercial inter- 
course between England and the Continent seems to have 

1 Cheyney, No. 2. 2 Ibid., No. 5- 3 Kipling, The River's Tale. 



THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND 




existed in some form at a very early period, long before the 
Phoenicians learned of the Cornish tin mines. The earliest 
inhabitants of whom traces have been found on the island were 
in that stage of civ- 
ilization that we 
call the Stone Age: 
they were Stone 
Workers, so called 
because they made 
Flint their 

implements. tools 
and weapons 
chiefly of stone, 
though wood and 
bone were also 
largely used. In 
the later period 
of the Stone Age 
the New Stone 
Workers developed considerable skill in grinding the rough flint 
on a granite slab with a little moist gravel thrown on the granite 
surface to make the grinding easier. It was a slow process, but 
six or eight hours of grinding every day for a week would pro- 
duce a fairly good ax of the desired form and finish. 

As good flint did not exist everywhere in Europe, it seems 
possible that there was a somewhat brisk trade in this com- 
The trade modity, at least in the later Stone Age. It is also 

in flint. likely that something like a flint industry may 

have been developed where the materials were plentiful, as for 
instance in Denmark. Some of these manufactured flint im- 
plements may have found their way to Britain. But the 
British Stone Men also had a native source of supply in the 
southeastern part of the island, which was doubtless distributed 
by commercial methods to the other parts of Britain. 

6. The Bronze Age : the Celts. The Stone Men were 
succeeded in the island by the Bronze Workers, a race that 



Stonehenge 

A prehistoric ruin on Salisbury plain, probably of Cel- 
tic origin and devoted to the worship of the sun; its 
greatest height is about twenty -two feet. From a pho- 
tograph by W. H. Dudley. 



THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN: JULIUS CESAR 5 

learned the art of making implements from a composition of 
copper and tin. There seem to have been several migrations 
of bronze-using people from the Continent to Brit- The use of 
ain. The race that the European travelers en- bronze- 
countered on the British Isles at the dawn of British history, 
more than two thousand years ago, were called 
Celts; 1 they had by that time learned to work 
in iron, but it is likely that the Celtic tribes that first came to 
Britain were still in the bronze age. The Highlanders of Scot- 
land, the Irish, and the inhabitants of Wales and Cornwall are 
chiefly of Celtic blood, the descendants of these prehistoric 
workers in bronze and iron. The Celts who occupied the 
southern and larger part of Great Britain were known as Bry- 
thons, hence the terms Briton and Britain. 

7. The Phoenicians and Greeks in Britain. It was the 
commercial possibilities of Great Britain that first attracted 
the attention of the Mediterranean merchants to this northern 
country. The bronze-smiths needed the tin that Phoenician 
the streams of Cornwall laid bare ; and Phceni- traders in 
cian traders from Spain and Carthage appear to n ain ' 
have sought this commodity in Britain at a very early date. 
Toward the close of the fourth century b.c, they seem to have 
found competitors in the Greeks from the Hellenic city of 
Massilia (Marseilles) in southern Gaul. In the days of Alex- 
ander the Great the merchants of that city sent an expedition 
to the "Pretanic Isles" headed by a Greek scien- Pytheas. 
tist, Pytheas by name. It is likely that the visit Ca * 30 ° B,c - 
of Pytheas did much to stimulate the overland trade between the 
Channel and the Mediterranean by way of the great valleys of 
the Seine and the Rhone. On his return Pytheas wrote an elab- 
orate report of his journey, parts of which have come down to us 
and serve as the earliest literary source for the history of Britain. 

8. The Romans in Britain: Julius Caesar. In the days 
of this Greek explorer, Carthage was the greatest power in the 
western Mediterranean, Rome being still confined to central 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 11, 13; Gardiner, 9-10. 



6 THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND 

Italy. The three centuries that followed were notable for the 
swift and wonderful expansion of Roman power, a movement 
that culminated in the extraordinary career of Julius Caesar. 
The expeditions While engaged in conquering Gaul, Caesar had 
of Julius Caesar, come to realize the need of an expedition across 
the Channel to punish the Britons, who seem to 
have brought military assistance to their Celtic friends in 
northern Gaul. Caesar made two such expeditions and appar- 
ently accomplished his purpose. 1 These were mere incidents 
to his Gallic wars ; but they have their importance, as the 
great general's account of the island inspired the Romans with 
an abiding interest in these distant lands, which finally led to 
annexation and conquest. 

The revolutionary movements in Italy that accompanied the 
change from republic to empire and the cautious policies of the 
first emperors, whose desires were to strengthen rather than to 
extend the frontiers, prevented further expansion of Roman 
territory, and for nearly a century the British tribes were 
The Roman allowed to retain their independence. But in 
conquest. 43 a.d., an invasion was begun for the purpose of 

subduing the island. Northward and westward 
the Roman eagles were carried, northward to the Humber and 
westward to the sacred isle of Mona (Anglesea). The conquest 
covered a period of nearly forty years and was carried to prac- 

. , tical completion by the Roman general Agricola, 

Agncola. l J ... 

the father-in-law of the historian Tacitus. Agnc- 
ola carried the frontier to the edge of the Highlands ; but Rome 
soon withdrew from these northern territories and drew the 
frontier along a line connecting Sol way Firth with the river Tyne. 
9. Roman Civilization in Britain. To make it easier to 
hold the country the Romans built a network of roads, four 
principal highways running northward and many 
shorter transverse lines. At the intersections 
camps were located and important cities grew up, inhabited 
largely by Roman merchants and discharged soldiers. Half 

1 Cheyney, No. 7; Gardiner, n-12. 



ROMAN CIVILIZATION IN BRITAIN 




8 THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND 

a century after Agricola's time, the Emperor Hadrian built, 
Hadrian's between the Solway and the Tyne, a strong wall, 
walL fragments of which can still be seen after the pas- 

sage of eighteen centuries. The south side of the wall was 
lined with Roman camps and guarded by a force of about 
10,000 men gathered from every quarter of the Roman world. 

The Romans also did much to improve the civilization and 
to utilize the resources of the island. Mines of tin, lead, and 
Progress in iron were opened and worked. Splendid houses 
civilization. were built of which an occasional ruin is still to be 
seen. 1 Cities were founded ; trade was developed ; and agri- 
culture was improved. In time the Christian religion came to 
the island along with numerous forms of pagan faith. The 
native Celt no doubt came to some extent under the spell of 
Roman civilization ; but Britain never became thoroughly 
Romanized, except in the neighborhood of the Roman towns ; 
in the more remote rural districts the rude British habits of life 
seem to have persisted. 

10. Withdrawal of the Roman Legions. For more than 
three centuries the larger part of Great Britain was under the 
domination of the Caesars. But about the year 400 the western 
part of the Roman Empire was rapidly crumbling. Among the 
military chiefs who were striving to get some advantage from 
the confusion by seizing and holding some fragment or province 
Constantine was one Constantine, a British soldier who enjoyed 
crosses over the imperial title and honors for about four years. 
to Gaul. 407. Not satisfied to rule Britain alone, he collected 

what forces he could and crossed over to Gaul (407). The 
soldiers never returned and the Britons were left to their own 
devices. Civilization soon began to decay and Celtic bar- 
barians reconquered much that had been lost. Christianity, 
however, did not die out, but seems to have won a firmer foot- 
ing after the Roman government had disappeared. 

The century that followed the withdrawal of the legions 
from Britain saw great changes everywhere in Europe. The 

1 Cheyney, No. 24. 



THE ANGLO-SAXON INVASION 9 

fifth century was the age of the migrations when Germans 
from the north and Huns from the east broke the The Germanic 
frontier along the Rhine and the Danube and migrations, 
seized parts of the Roman Empire. During this period the 
Romanized Britons were also sorely afflicted by invading 
enemies, — Picts from the Highlands, Scots from Ireland, and 
Teutonic tribes from the Continent. 




v ' ' A r 3^^—^ 7 7:: rr:: : 



Merid. O of Greenw. 



The English Settlements in Great Britain about 600 

11. The Anglo-Saxon Invasion. These Continental tribes 
were the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes, who lived in north- 
ern Germany along the Weser and the lower Elbe Angles and 
and in the Jutish peninsula. They were all appar- Saxons - 
ently addicted to piracy : the Romans had felt the attacks of 
the Saxons on the British shores for several generations; and 
so bothersome had they become that a special officer, the Count 
of the Saxon Shore, had been given charge of the coast defenses 
from the Wash to Beachy Head. Now that this official and his 
forces were gone, the piratical Saxons doubtless came in greater 



io THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND 

numbers. About 450 there was great commotion in the German 

lands : Attila was on the march toward Gaul with 

a vast army, — according to tradition he had half 

a million men. His defeat came at Chalons the following year 

(451). It seems probable that Attila's movements were the 

cause of the removal of the Angles and Saxons to Britain, whose 

lands they had long known and whose shores were 

449? 

open to attack. The traditional date of the migra- 
tion is 449 and seems to be approximately correct. 

Following the ancient route along the German and Dutch 
coast to the Strait of Dover, the invaders first came to Kent, the 
invasion of the home of a Celtic tribe in southeastern England. 

gi^and tht n " Thence tne Y would sail north P ast the mouth of 
Saxons. the Thames or westward along the shore of the 

Channel. Islands lying close to the shore, such as Thanet and 
Wight, were evidently first seized and used as places of refuge 
and bases for further operations. Rivers formed the highways 
into the country. Apparently there was no organized move- 
ment or united action, each invading chief proceeding on his 
own responsibility and initiative ; but a Jutish 
leader by the name of Hengist, who probably 
founded the new kingdom of Kent, was regarded, it seems, as 
the most influential among the leaders. 1 

12. The Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms. The Anglo-Saxon in- 
vasion continued with interruptions for more than a century. 
The nature of the attacks, favored the creation of a number of 
little kingdoms that lined the eastern and southern coasts from 
the Firth of Forth to Southampton Water and beyond. The 
interior limits of these kingdoms might be a range of hills, like 
the Pennine range in the north, which for a time proved a 
barrier to the expansion of Northumbria ; a strip of broad 
swamp land, like the Fens that run southward from the Wash, 
which divided East Anglia from Mercia ; broad, pathless oak 
forests like the Weald, a long strip of woodland between the 
Downs, which served to isolate the little kingdom of Sussex ; 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 26-27; Kendall, No. 3. 



ANGLO-SAXON SOCIETY IN THE HEATHEN AGE n 

or sometimes a wide river mouth like that of the Thames or of 
the Humber. Of the kingdoms formed in the interior, only 
one, Mercia, is of any great importance : this was formed by 
Anglian tribes that moved up the valley of the Trent and took 
possession of the Midlands. The Britons gradually retired 
to the regions beyond the watershed, where they, too, organized 
petty kingdoms. In the sixth century perhaps as many as 
twenty little monarchies existed on the island south of the 
Highlands, of which about a dozen were Anglo-Saxon. In 
time the number was reduced by conquest and absorption, until 
in the eighth century four kingdoms controlled The four lead- 
the territories of the Angles and Saxons: Wessex, ing kingdoms. 
East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria. Cut off from central 
England by the broad Fenlands, East Anglia had only small 
opportunities to expand and never played a great part in 
English history ; but the other three kingdoms rose to succes- 
sive leadership in order from north to south : first Northumbria, 
then Mercia, and finally Wessex. 

13. Anglo-Saxon Society in the Heathen Age. The 
coming of the Germans completely transformed the civiliza- 
tion of the greater part of the island. The institutions and 
the mode of life among the Anglo-Saxons were essentially 
Germanic, 1 though the invaders doubtless appropriated much 
of the Celtic civilization that they found in their new lands. 
The old Roman cities were left deserted and permitted to fall 
into ruins, as the conquerors were accustomed to rural life 
and settled in small villages where they carried on agriculture 

and stock farming on a basis of common owner- 

Village life, 
ship. In these villages each individual family of 

freemen seems to have had exclusive control and possession of 

the family homestead, the house and a parcel of ground about 

it, as well as of the live stock and other personal property that 

the household would need ; but the plowland, the meadow, 

the woods, and the pasture lands were apparently owned by 

the community as a whole and distributed among the farmers 

1 Cheyney, No. 28;- Kendall, No. 2; Tuell and Hatch, No. 1. 



12 



THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND 



so that each had his own ground to work. The plowland was 
The strip divided up into strips, usually an acre in area, of 

system. w hich each family might have one hundred and 

twenty These with certain undivided rights in the village 
forest' and grass land formed the normal holding or farm of a 
household. Ordinarily the acre-strips given to each farmer 
were scattered about in various parts of the fields; this may 
have been done to prevent any one from seizing the more 




Rood Strips and Balks, Bygrave, Hertfordshire 
The balks are the raised ridges separating the " Acre " strips. 

desirable land, but it also made tilling the soil more difficult 
and cumbersome. 

The agriculture that was practiced in the Old English village 

was not of a high order. The tools were primitive and clumsy ; 

the plow was of such rude construction that a team 

Agriculture. of ^ ^^ ^ Qxen wag necessary t o draw it. As 

there was no market for a surplus, the farmers made no attempt 
to produce more than could be consumed in the village, lo 
maintain the fertility of the soil, one-third of the plowland was 
allowed to lie fallow each year. In addition to raising the 



HEATHEN CULTURE AND RELIGION 13 

common varieties of grain, the Old English farmer kept cattle, 
hogs, sheep, and poultry. Butter and cheese were made, and 
beer was brewed from various grains, especially barley, which 
seems to have been a leading crop. Sweetened with honey the 
beer became mead, which was much used on festive occasions. 

14. Political Institutions. 1 In general the society in these 
villages was of a democratic type: farmer and freeman were 
synonymous terms. There was, however, also a class of slaves 
and bondmen, many of whom may have been of Celtic blood, 
as well as an important aristocratic class with certain recognized 
rights of leadership. At the head of each state was a king, 
whose chief business was to lead in warfare and to perform 
certain important rites at the great sacrificial festivals. He 
could also proclaim laws and revise the old "customs" of his 
people ; but as an administrator he had very little authority. 
To assist him in what little government there was, he had a 
council of the chief nobles, a body that after several transforma- 
tions developed into the English house of lords. 

15. Heathen Culture and Religion. The Anglo-Saxon 
aristocracy served a useful and highly important purpose as 
the patrons of heathen culture. When the king 

or the chief called together his followers after a 
foray, or on some other joyous occasion, to feast with him in 
his rude wooden hall, the tale of the poet and the chant of the 
singer were regarded as indispensable features of the enter- 
tainment. Stories were told of superhuman valor and heroism, 
sagas that had come into England with the migration from 
Germany, some of which had a nucleus of historic fact. 2 This 
was the beginning of English literature, which has had an 
almost continuous existence and growth for fifteen centuries. 
Of these early poems only a few have survived, as the heathen 

Englishman knew no written characters but the _, 

• r 1 r t • , The runes, 

runes, a series of letters formed of straight lines 

and of little service except for brief inscriptions on wood or 

stone. 

1 Gardiner, 29-33. 2 Cheyney, No. 29. 



i 4 THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND 

In religion the Anglo-Saxons were heathen and worshiped 

the old Teutonic gods, particularly Woden, the god of wisdom 

and warfare. Originally the Germanic peoples 
Sun worship. *.',•,,:,, , . „ 

worshiped the bright sky and more especially 

the shining sun. In time various phases of this heathen worship 

came to be looked upon as having separate existence and the 

number of deities increased. Three of these attained a general 

preeminence. The fire of the sun was again seen in the flash 

of the lightning and the result was the worship of Thunor 

(Thor), the god of strength. In the fury of the 
The gods. ■, . , \ , , 

tempest that accompanies the thunder-clap, the 

Teutons recognized another god, Woden, whose power was 

also manifest in the fury of the battle rush. It is likely that 

the Anglo-Saxons also worshiped the god Frey, the sun as the 

giver of life and growth to the fields and the forests. The 

names of these three divinities appear in Thursday, Wednesday, 

and Friday ; Tuesday and perhaps Saturday are also named 

in honor of the old gods. The gods were given peculiar honor 

on certain great festive occasions in which the entire population 

joined, when bloody and repulsive rites were performed and 

„ . , human sacrifices probably offered. Among the 

Festivals. . \ J P . , 

Teutonic peoples three such great festivals were 

commonly celebrated : the first late in autumn to secure the 
return of the receding sun ; the second early in January in 
joyful recognition of the lengthening days ; and the third at 
the opening of spring when sacrifices were offered in honor of 
the god that gave life and growth and vegetation. It is likely 
that the Angles and Saxons had corresponding festivals. 

16. British Christianity. In the western part of the island 
among the Britons, the Christian religion had retained its 
vigor. One of these Welsh Christians, Saint Patrick, a con- 
st. Patrick temporary of the heathen Hengist, whose home 
in Ireland. seems to have been somewhere in the Severn valley, 
even took up missionary work in Ireland and gave new vigor 
to the feeble Irish church. A century later a new mission field 
was opened on the western coast of modern Scotland. Saint 



THE CELTIC MISSIONARIES 15 

Columba, a Celt from northern Ireland and an exile from his 
native land, repaired to an Irish settlement in st. Columba; 
modern Argyle, and there, on the little island of Iona - 
Iona, founded a celebrated monastery which became the center 
of an active missionary movement that extended even to the 
Continent. But for a century and a half after the coming of 
the Anglo-Saxons we know of no effort on the part of the dis- 
possessed Britons to convert their Anglo-Saxon enemies. 

17. Roman Christianity: the Mission of St. Augustine. 
In the days of Saint Columba, however, a man of unusual tact 
and abilities ascended the papal throne, and the Gregory the 
Roman church began to prepare for further con- Great - 
quest. Pope Gregory the Great had long been interested in the 
Anglo-Saxon tribes, and in 596 sent a missionary force of forty 
monks under the leadership of Saint Augustine to win the 
people for Christianity. 1 The following year, Saint Augustine 
and his party arrived in Kent and were cordially M ission oi 
received by King Ethelbert, who was not wholly St. Augustine, 
ignorant of the Christian faith, as his queen, Bertha, 

was a Frankish princess, who worshiped Christ according to 
Catholic standards. This was the year of Saint Columba's 
death in Iona (597). 

At Canterbury, which was the royal residence, Saint Augus- 
tine founded a monastery which became the ecclesiastical 

center of all England and has remained the capital „ 

& ^ Canterbury, 

of the Anglican church to this day. An effort 

was made not only to christianize the English, but also to bring 

the British church under the control of Canterbury, but in this 

Saint Augustine failed. A conference was held with the Welsh 

bishops at "Augustine's Oak," somewhere near the Bristol 

Channel ; but to no purpose : the Welshmen refused to modify 

their rites and practices and found submission to the bishop 

of Kent too odious to be seriously considered. 

18. The Celtic Missionaries. A generation after their 
arrival in Canterbury, the Roman missionaries succeeded in 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 31-32; Innes, I, 1-4; Robinson, No. 18. 



i6 



THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND 



converting Edwin, king of the Northumbrians and the mighti- 
est ruler on the island. 1 The north country, however, soon 
relapsed into heathendom and the honor of converting the 
Council of Angles beyond the Humber belongs to Celtic mis- 
Whitby. 664. s i naries from Iona. By the middle of the seventh 
century it had become a matter of doubt whether Christianity 
of the Celtic or of the Roman type was to dominate in the 
British Isles. The situation disturbed the king of Northum- 




Ruins of Whitby Abbey 

bria, and in 664 he summoned a council at Whitby to debate 

the merits of the two churches. 2 

During two centuries of independence and isolation, the 
Celtic church had developed certain peculiarities 

acTeristics of" that were of practical importance. The Britons 
were inclined to regard Saint John as superior to 
Saint Peter ; but this belief could not be tolerated 

by the Catholics of Rome, as it struck at the foundations of 



the Celtic 
church. 



1 Cheyney, No. $3; Innes, I, 5-7; Kendall, No. 4; Robinson, No. 19. 

2 Gardiner, 49-50. 



THEODORE OF TARSUS 



17 



papal authority, which rested on the belief that Saint Peter 
had once been bishop of Rome. The churches also celebrated 
Easter at different times : this was important, as it was almost 
necessary that the Lenten season should begin for all at the 
same time ; otherwise one faction might be celebrating the 
joys of Easter, while the other was deep in the sorrows of Pas- 




The Church at Escomb, Durham 
This church is one of the oldest in England; it was built about 700. 

sion Week. The Celts, as a half nomadic people, emphasized 
the monastery as a center of religious worship, while the Roman 
church was organized on a parish basis, each village or group 
of neighboring villages having its own church and priest. The 
king finally decided in favor of the Roman system. 

19. Theodore of Tarsus : Organization of the Church. The 
organization of the church among the Anglo-Saxons was chiefly 
the work of a Greek monk, Theodore of Tarsus, who came to 
England as archbishop of Canterbury five years after the 
council of Whitby. Up to this time the work had remained 
in the missionary stage with a missionary bishop directing the 
work in each kingdom. But some of the kingdoms, like North- 



i8 



THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND 



umbria and Mercia, were clearly too extensive for a single 
bishop ; there was danger, too, that under separate heads the 
churches in these kingdoms might become independent of 
Canterbury. Archbishop Theodore therefore broke up these 
The new large dioceses into smaller ones, and definitely 

dioceses. established the supremacy of Canterbury over all 

the other dioceses. The parish system, too, was put on a more 
The parish definite footing : 
system. priests were pro- 

vided and the parish boun- 
daries more clearly drawn. 
Churches were built and 
monasteries founded. A 
hundred years after the ar- 
rival of Saint Augustine the 
new faith was firmly rooted 
in English soil. 

20. The Old English 
Monasteries. An important 
institution within the Catho- 
lic church was the monastery, 
a community of monks or 
nuns who wished to with- 
draw from the attractions of 
a sinful world and devote 
their lives to the pursuit of 
holiness. Every monastic 
community was an organized 
brotherhood governed by a 

Organization chief called an 
of monasteries. abbotj and Hved 

according to a set of regula- 
tions known as the Benedictine Rule which were drawn up by 
Benedict of Nursia, an Italian abbot who flourished in the first 
half of the sixth century. No monk or nun could marry or pos- 
sess any property except the merest necessities, and all were 




Benedictine Monk 
From Dugdale's Monasticon. 



THE OLD ENGLISH MONASTERIES 19 

pledged to absolute obedience to the abbot or abbess : these 
were the vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. Their lives 
were to be spent in prayer, worship, and labor. The externals 
of a monastery were a group of buildings usually built around 
a court ; in these the monks lived, worked, and stored the pro- 
duce of the monastic lands. The monastic life appealed strongly 
to these new English Christians and soon a number of these 
institutions were founded. So impressed were the Monastic 
kings and other men of wealth and power with the wealtn - 
practical value of the monasteries to society, that they made 
large donations, chiefly of land, for the support of the monks. 
For while the individual monk was pledged to poverty, the 
monastic brotherhood might enjoy unlimited wealth. 

In the advancement of the new civilization that came with 
Christianity, the monks had a large and important part. They 
copied books and thus preserved what the times possessed of 
knowledge and classical literature. These books culture 

were frequently illuminated, that is, provided with of the 
,. 1T1-.L c t_ • t_ i_ monasteries, 

drawings and colored pictures, some of which show 

rare skill, though, on the whole, the pictorial art of the middle 
ages was of an inferior type. At a time when inns were few 
and public hospitals unknown, the monastery proved a great 
blessing to the traveler, the unfortunate, and the contributions 
one who was stricken with illness; for the monks to material 
practiced a generous hospitality, and what knowl- 
edge the world had of nursing and medicine they usually 
possessed. On their large estates they built new and improved 
buildings patterned after those that they saw in their journeys 
in southern Europe; these were often of stone and were some- 
times even provided with glass. They also brought home 
and introduced new ideas of agriculture, which soon became 
common property among the tenants who farmed the monastic 
lands. Frequently the monks went into regions that were 
waste and uncultivated and built their monasteries there, 
and in this way they added to the cultivated and civilized area 
of the country. But all these worldly activities inevitably 



20 THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND 

led to a lowering of ascetic ideals; after two or three generations 
of monastic development, bitter complaints of corruption in 
these institutions began to arise; of this there is evidence in 
the writings of Bede, who was himself a monk. 

The arrival of so many men from the southlands, missionaries, 
prelates, and abbots, the introduction of a stately church 
ceremonial based on a new system of religious thought, and 
the building of churches, cathedrals, and monasteries gave a 
remarkable impetus to Old English culture, especially to 
poetic literature. Schools were established in the cathedrals 
and monasteries where Latin was taught and the Classics were 
read and thus a large fund of new ideas became current among 
the educated classes. The chief scene of literary activity was 
The new liter- n0 l° n S er tne princely hall but the quiet cloister, 
ary impulse. The transition, however, was not violent. The 
Beowulf. great poem Beowulf, a production of more than 

three thousand lines, a heathen story of valor and warfare 
with additions that are clearly Christian, belongs to the first 
half of the seventh century, the period of missionary ac- 
tivities among the Anglo-Saxons. In this poem we have an 
excellent picture of a heathen civilization that was about to 
expire. 

21. The Beginnings of Christian Literature. In the 
second half of the same century, a few years after the coming 
The Cadmonic of Theodore of Tarsus, there appeared in England 
poems. tne fi rst native Christian poet, one Cadmon, an 

aged Northumbrian convert who was in the service of the 
monastic community at Whitby. 1 In the poems ascribed to 
Cadmon there is much that is of heathen origin: the form is 
the same, and alliterative rhyme is used, as in the earlier non- 
Christian productions; the old poetic materials are also em- 
ployed, especially the figures of speech that reflect the warlike 
activities and the festive joys of the race. In a large measure 
the fund of ideas and the views of life belong to heathen times; 
but the themes are Biblical, the stories of Genesis and Exodus, 

1 Cheyney, No. 35. 



THE BEGINNINGS OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 21 

for example, and the religious thought is Christian of the 
medieval type. 

The greatest of all the Old English writers was the Venerable 
Bede, a gentle, pious, and humble monk, who lived in the 
Northumbrian monastery of Jarrow. Bede was The Venerable 
born in the days of Theodore and Cadmon. As Bede - 
an infant he was given into the keeping of the monks; conse- 




735. 



Durham Cathedral 
Burial place of Bede. 

quently his literary education began at an early age. The 

Northumbrian boy, who was only one generation removed 

from heathendom, grew up to be the most perfect 

Latinist of his age and the greatest scholar of his 

century. Bede wrote Latin prose for the most part, but he 

did not neglect his native tongue; his last work was a translation 

into Old English of the Gospel of Saint John, a work Bede's Eccle- 

that he completed on his deathbed. His chief work siastical His- 

is the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, 

a record of events in England from the time of the conquest and 

especially of the progress of conversion to the Christian faith. 



22 THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND 

There were other writers and intellectual leaders that flour- 

Alcuin. ished in NortnumDria during the eighth century, 

the most famous after Bede being the learned 

Alcuin whose work was done on the Continent in connection with 




,r,- J -^J^rJumttmi 



im 



g%J§l ■* /«: .v <; Ll s 11 (' R A X X K L, .1 



the palace school of Charlemagne. Alcuin was also a Northum- 
brian and was trained by one of Bede's pupils. In his day he 
was the foremost teacher in Christendom. The series closes 



SUMMARY 23 

with Cynewulf, a poet whose themes, like those of Cadmonic 
times, were chiefly Biblical, though Cynewulf also 
made use of Christian legends. Cynewulf was the 
first English poet who affixed his signature to his writings; for 
this purpose he made use of the runic characters that spelled 
his name and distributed these among his verses. With his 
poems the glory of Northumbrian culture came to a close. 
After the death of Bede (735) it had begun to decline; and 
with the coming of the Norse vikings sixty years later, intel- 
lectual activities in northern England almost ceased. 

22. Summary. The year 800 closes an epoch in Old English 
history. For more than three centuries the Angles and Saxons 
had occupied British soil. During the sixth century the 
prominent facts are conquest, colonization, gradual westward 
expansion, the formation of villages, and the building of states. 
In the seventh century the heathen worship disappeared, 
and an important province was added to the Roman church 
at a time when the Mohammedan advance was rooting out the 
Christian faith east and south of the Mediterranean. This 
century also saw the beginnings of Christian culture with its 
chief center in Northumbria, which was the leading English 
kingdom of the age. This culture found its highest develop- 
ment in the following century in the prose of Bede and the 
poems of Cynewulf. On the whole, however, the eighth cen- 
tury was a period of decline in the northern kingdom. Politi- 
cal leadership was lost early in the century and Mercia took the 
place of Northumbria as the kingdom of promise. 

The dominant figure of the age was the mighty King Offa, 
the friend of Charlemagne, 1 who ruled Mercia for nearly 
forty years (757-796). In his early days East 
Anglia was made a Mercian dependency and the 
other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were forced into a state of vassal- 
age. In his days, too, a definite boundary was drawn between 
the Mercians and the Welsh, and an earthwork constructed 
to mark this boundary, which was called Offa's Dyke. But 

1 Cheyney, No. 37; Kendall, No. 5. 



24 



THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND 



Mercian leadership perished with the great king. A new- 
dynasty was rising in southern England and the hopes of the 
Anglo-Saxons came to be centered about the kingdom of 
Wessex, with whose leadership the history of the English 
kingdom begins. 

REFERENCES 

Geography of the British Isles. — Cheyney, Short History of England, 
c. i; Cross, History of England, c. i; George, Relations of Geography and History, 
c. x; Mackinder, Britain and the British Seas. 

The earliest inhabitants of Great Britain. — Cross, 11-18; Fletcher, 
Introductory History of England, I, Part i, c. i; Ransome, Advanced History of 
England, 3-9; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 1-5. 

Roman civilization in Britain. — Fletcher, I, i, 20-26; Tout, 9-12. 

The English conquest. — Innes, History of England, 6-10. 

The conversion of England. -7- Ransome, 26-36; Tout, 28-35. 

Early Anglo-Saxon institutions. — Fletcher, I, i, 27-38; Ransome, 
40-50; Walker, Essentials in English History, c. iv. 




CHAPTER II 
THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY 

23. The Northmen in Britain. In the ninth century the 
tide of immigration once more began to flow toward the British 
Isles. This time the invaders were Northmen, or Danes, as 
the English preferred to call them, though all the Scandinavian 
tribes evidently joined in the attack. The viking movement 
may be regarded as a belated wave of the Germanic migrations. 
The purpose was the same: the acquisition of new homes in a 
more favored clime. 

Due east of the Shetland and the Orkney Islands lies the 
southern part of Norway, and from this region the westward 
movement seems to have begun. The islands Scandinavian 
mentioned and northern Scotland were the terri- settlements, 
tories first occupied; thence the stream of settlement flowed 
on to the Hebrides, down the west coast of Scotland, and 
across to eastern Ireland and the Isle of Man. Later, Norwe- 
gian settlers appeared north of the Humber and Danes in the 
East Anglian kingdom. It will thus be seen that parts of both 
the eastern and the western shores of the island were being 
visited and seized. 

Like the Anglo-Saxons the Scandinavian invaders were of 
Teutonic blood and spoke a Germanic dialect with enough 
points of resemblance to the Old English to make civilization of 
it possible for the two peoples to learn each other's the Northmen, 
language without great effort. In religion the Northmen were 
still heathen, worshiping the old gods that the English had 
renounced two hundred years earlier. 1 In civilization they 
occupied a lower stage than the English, though in some respects 
they were their intellectual equals. In shipbuilding, for 

1 Review sec. 15. 
25 



26 



THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY 



instance, they soon came to lead Europe, and for several cen- 
turies the Norse vikings ruled the European seas. Piracy was 
common among them, but loot and pillage were not the chief 
objects of their visits to Britain: it was land-hunger and eco- 




Viking Ship 

Model of a ship found in 1880 in a burial-mound at Gokstad, Norway, 
where it had been buried nearly one thousand years before. 



nomic pressure that led the Northmen to emigrate, though 
love of adventure and the prospect of sharing in plundered 
wealth doubtless also proved strong incentives. 

24. The Vikings as Conquerors. The earliest recorded 
visit of the vikings to any of the English kingdoms for the 



THE VIKING ATTACK ON WESSEX 27 

sake of plunder was in 793, when they pillaged the Northum- 
brian monastery at Lindisfarne. That was toward . The attack on 
the close of Offa's reign as king of Mercia and En g lan d. 793. 
overlord of the English, and while Cynewulf may still have 
been writing in some Anglian cloister. From that date for a 
hundred years, English history is an almost unbroken account 
of warfare with the Scandinavian invaders. It was the custom 
of the vikings to land and seize the horses in the regions visited, 
and thus mounted they rode everywhere at will. Some of the 
English kings made vigorous efforts to defend their lands, but 
too often they strove in vain. Egbert, the king of Wessex, 
kept the invaders at bay for a time; but after his death (839) 
the Angles and Saxons were again hard pressed. 

In 866 the vikings in England found new leaders in the sons 
of Ragnar Lodbrok, whom a Northumbrian king is said to 
have seized and thrown into a den of serpents Conquest of 
some years before. The fierce brothers wintered Northumbria. 
with their host in East Anglia. The following year the Danes 
swept northward across the Humber and crushed Northumbria. 
They next turned south again into middle England. West 
Saxons from the south hastened to the aid of the Mercian 
king, but to no purpose: the men of Mercia submitted, and 
six years later the Mercian kingdom ceased to exist. Next 
the Danes stormed into East Anglia where the glorious Edmund 
was king. He was seized and suffered martyrdom; Mercia and 
soon he was adored as one of the most powerful East An s lia - 
saints of the English church; but his kingdom passed to the 
Danes. In 870, after five years of hostile operations, the 
northern pirates found themselves in control of all the region 
from the river Thames northward almost as far as the Firth of 
Forth. Wessex was now the only surviving Anglo-Saxon state 
in Britain. 

25. The Viking Attack on Wessex: Alfred the Great. 
In those days the throne of Wessex belonged to Egbert king of 
the family of Egbert, a prince who represented a Wessex - 802 - 
younger line of the ancient dynasty and became king in 802. 



28 



THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY 



SCANDINAVIAN SETTLEMENTS 
BRITAIN AND NORMANDY 

The Danelaw ES3 
Norse Settlements! 
Danish Settlements.1123 
Scale of Miles 

O 25 50 100 




THE VIKING ATTACK ON WESSEX 29 

While still a youth he had been driven from the land by his 
reigning kinsman, and a part of his exile was spent at the 
court of Charlemagne, where he learned the Frankish methods 
of government and developed ambitions to rule conquered 
lands. Egbert proved a ruler of unusual abilities; but none 
of his immediate successors showed any marked talents either 
as rulers or leaders in warfare. During the decade 860-870, 
when the Anglian kingdoms were yielding to the onslaught 
of the Danish hordes, three of Egbert's grandsons ruled succes- 
sively in Wessex. Their reigns were brief and unimportant 
save for continued and unsuccessful wars against the vikings. 

After they had seized East Anglia and had slain King Ed- 
mund, the Danes moved their forces across the Thames and 
carried the war into the neighborhood of Winchester, the very 
heart of the West Saxon kingdom. In the early months of 
871, a series of battles was fought, the Danes being usu- 
ally victorious. In the midst of these disasters, ^f Te ^ 
Alfred, commonly known as the Great, 1 a fourth becomes 
grandson of King Egbert, ascended the tottering ng * 
throne. Alfred was a young man, perhaps not more than 
twenty-three years old; but the events of the previous reign 
had given him much experience in the field as well as in the 
council chamber, and he proved equal to the task. 

For several years the young prince had been the real force 
in the Saxon host; as king he continued the war, 2 but, seeing 
the futility of keeping up an unequal struggle, he made peace 
as soon as opportunity appeared. However, after four years 
of quiet, the enemy reappeared in Wessex and fought with 
such success that for a time Alfred was almost a fugitive in 
his own kingdom. But in 878 the yeomanry from the counties 
of Somerset, Hants, and Wilts gathered about him and the 
enemy was overcome. Guthrum, the leader of Treaty of 
the defeated Danes, agreed to accept the Christian Chippenham, 
faith and withdrew to his own kingdom in East Anglia. The 

1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 6; Bates and Coman, 18-19 (Wordsworth, Alfred). 

2 Innes, I, 16-21. 



3° 



THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY 



treaty was made at Chippenham and the two kings apparently 
divided southern England between them with the Thames as 
the chief boundary. 

26. Alfred as Statesman and Reformer. 1 Alfred's first 
care after peace had been secured was to provide for the defense 
An English of the country. Cities were fortified, the militia 
navy built. was organized, and a navy was built. 2 The art 
of shipbuilding the king learned from his Danish enemies ; 




The Alfred Jewel 

A jewel of gold found near Athelney in 1603. The inscription reads: 
Aelfred mec heht gewyrcan, i.e. Alfred had me made. 

but Alfred is said to have made notable improvements on the 
plans of the Norse builders: he built ships that were swifter, 
steadier, and higher. Alfred also made a thorough study of 
Alfred as the ancient laws of his kingdom, and after careful 

law-giver. sifting he reenacted those that he approved, though 
he made certain important modifications especially in the 
direction of greater mercy and lighter penalties for minor 
offenses. 3 The administration of justice was also reformed: 
the local officials were instructed to deal out equal justice to 
all without fear or favor. 

27. Alfred's Work for English Literature. 4 The great 
king's work of improvement was not limited to administration 
and defense. It was he who gave the first impulse to the re- 
vival of learning in England toward the close of the ninth 
Low state of century. The need was great; barbarism was con- 
Enghsh culture. q Uerm g tne } anc j- f or nearly a century English 
intellect had produced almost nothing of lasting importance; 

1 Cheyney, No. 40. 2 Ibid., p. 65. 

3 Ibid., No. 47; Innes, I, 29-32; Kendall, No. 6t 

4 Cheyney, pp. 67-68; Gardiner, 61. 



THE EXPANSION OF WESSEX 31 

Anglo-Saxon scholarship seemed to have barely survived 
in Mercia, but Wessex was utterly illiterate. The king him- 
self was not able to read before he was twelve years old; but 
he seems to have developed an early interest in learning, 1 and 
he continued a student till the end of his days. Learned men 
were called to his court, from Mercia, from Wales, and from 
over the sea. A school was opened at the royal a palace 
court, and in a sense the king himself became a schooL 
teacher; for Alfred lived for a great ideal: that all young 
Englishmen should learn to read their mother tongue. 

But reading requires books; and it was Alfred's great in- 
terest in education that gave rise to English prose. In his 
reign there appeared several notable translations 01d En H , 
of what at that time was considered the most use- prose: trans- 
ful among the Latin writings. The work was atlons - 
done at court, under royal supervision perhaps, though it is 
doubtful whether the king himself took a very active part as 
a translator. Among the books chosen were Bede's Ecclesi- 
astical History; Gregory's Pastoral Care, which was intended 
to help the ignorant priests; Orosius' History, which detailed 
calamities as great as those that England had lately endured; 
and Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, which was also suited 
to a sorrowful age. In addition Alfred encouraged The An l 
the writing of current history; as a result some of Saxon 
the leading monasteries undertook to compile the Chromcle - 
annals of Britain and the great Anglo-Saxon Chronicle came 
into being. 

28. The Expansion of Wessex. Alfred died in 900. He 
was not a genius either as a statesman, a general, or a writer; 
he was simply a wide-awake, practical Englishman Achievements 
with great administrative abilities and a marvel- of Alfred the 
ous capacity for work. Still, his achievements reat " 
are greater than those of any other English king: English 
prose literature and the English nation both look back to him. 
In his long reign of nearly thirty years the English state saw 

1 Innes, I, 8-9. 



3 2 



THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY 



its beginning, and Alfred the Great may be said to have been 
the first king of England. 

The making of England was the expansion of Wessex. There 
was no union of the Old English kingdoms, for Mercia, East 
Expansion of Anglia, and Northumbria were never revived: 
Wessex. nor was Alfred or any of his immediate successors 

chosen king by all the English nation. What happened was 



IRISH SEA 




G* 1 



WESSEX 
cll ANNEL AB out 886 

S ** Boundary accordrng'To 

C~- — 'Alfred and Guthrums'/Peace 

_} I z 



that the king of Wessex, the dynasty of Alfred, gradually 
conquered the lands north of the .Thames from the Danes and 
Norwegians who held it. Mile by mile the frontier was pushed 
northward, until the authority of the kings at Winchester 
extended as far as the Firth of Forth. Naturally the name 
Wessex was soon dropped for the more inclusive term England. 
The first real advance came fifteen years after Alfred's ele- 
vation to the kingship. About 886 a new agreement was drawn 



THE EXPANSION OF WESSEX 



33 



up between Alfred and his Danish neighbor in East Anglia, 
according to which the Thames and the Ouse as Advance into 
far west as Watling Street were made the boun- western 
dary between the kingdoms. By this treaty Wessex 
came into possession of a small area of south Mercian territory 
to the northwest of London. Watling Street was an old Roman 
road that ran northwestward from London to Chester. As to 
Mercia west of this road, the treaty is silent, perhaps because 
neither king had a claim to this region: it was never an integral 







BEsNfc 



Ruins of Hyde Abbey, Winchester 
Alfred is supposed to be buried here. 

part of Wessex and was not occupied by the Danes. But the 
English people of this section, wedged in, as they were, between 
the Danes and the Welsh, naturally turned to Alfred, whom all 
Englishmen were now disposed to accept as king. The chief 
ruler or ealdorman became Alfred's subject and „ The Lady 
married his daughter, the spirited Ethelfled, known of the 
in history as "the lady of the Mercians." In this 
way a large triangular area extending north to Chester was 
added to Alfred's dominions. 

The work of expansion was successfully carried on by Alfred's 
successors, several of whom were strong, capable men, until, 



Mercians. 



34 



THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY 



after two generations of continuous advance, every Danish state 
on English soil had been forced into subjection. 1 The result was 
due in large measure to the aggressive valor of the Saxons, but 
still more to disunion among the Danish colonists and to the 
fact that reinforcements came no longer from the Scandinavian 
lands. For throughout almost the entire tenth century there 
was a lull in the activities of the vikings, and the Scandinavians 
in England were thrown on their own inadequate resources. 

29. The Danelaw. The Danelaw, as the Anglo-Danish 
settlements were called, was not a political unit. There was a 
The divisions of king in East An- 
the Danelaw. g^ a; another in 

the ancient city of York; 
earls with more or less au- 
thority ruled over various 
sections or groups of settle- 
ments; in the Midlands the 
English were held in subjec- 
tion by the garrisons of the 
"Five Boroughs," five Dan- 
ish strongholds that formed 
some kind of a city league. 
Of this division of strength 
the English made good use. 
It is also true that the in- 
vaders were gradually losing 
their alien character and 
were becoming English in 
language and sympathies. 




Danish Runic Monument 



The monument was raised at Jelling in 
Jutland by King Gorm, the great-grandfather 
of Cnut the Great, in honor of Thyra his queen. 
The part of the inscription visible reads: sina : 
Tanmarkar bot, i.e. — his (wife), Denmark's 

Resistance, nevertheless, defense . 
continued for half a century 

Edgar the after Alfred's death. Not till the accession of Ed- 
Peaceful. 959. g ar the Peaceful as king of all England (959) did 
the Danish chiefs seem to have become reconciled to Saxon 
rule. 

1 Gardiner, 62-64. 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT 35 

30. Old English Cities and Towns. By the time of 
Edgar there had grown up a number of cities on English soil, 
in the south as well as in the Danelaw. None of old English 
these can have been large, but they were more Dorou g hs - 
than mere villages: they had their own governments; they 
were often surrounded by a wall ; they were usually the center 
of a considerable trade. The settlement of the Danes stimu- 
lated the growth of these "boroughs," for the Danes were 
traders as well as pirates, and brought a great variety of prod- 
ucts to England, especially from the Baltic shores. 

i ■ • t / 1 • London. 

Among these cities London was the most impor- 
tant : it was of ancient origin, possibly dating from Celtic 
times ; it had an excellent location not far from the mouth of 
the Thames, where the banks were high and the river was easily 
crossed both by ford and bridge. But there were other cities 
that almost ranked with London. Winchester was the capital; 
York was the center of the eastern trade; Sandwich was the 
most important seaport. 

The great mass of the population, however, still lived in 
villages l and followed rural pursuits. The village with the 

land belonging to it made up the Old English _ 

1 • i-i 1 11 . r The town, 

town or township, which was the smallest unit of 

social and political life. Not all the villagers were farmers: 
the priest, the miller, and the smith formed a separate class 
slightly above the ordinary farmer. Many of the villages 
were under the domination of some influential noble who some- 
times lived in a more pretentious home called a hall a little 
distance from the village. In such cases the lord exercised 
some control over the villagers, 2 but he was also held re- 
sponsible for them to the higher authorities. 

31. Local Government. 3 The towns were grouped into 
larger areas called hundreds. Every month the chief men 
of the towns (sent, perhaps, as representatives) came together 
near some large rock or under a spreading oak and held the 

1 Innes, Industrial Development, 24-26. 2 Cheyney, No. 42. 

3 Gardiner, 72-73; Masterman, 14-16. 



36 



THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY 




(a) March. — Preparing the soil 




{b) July. — Making hay 




(c) August. — Harvesting grain 




(d) December. — Threshing grain 

Agriculture in Old English Times 
From an Anglo-Saxon Calendar, ca. 1050 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT 



37 



hundred court. In this court the disputes between the quar- 
relsome villagers were taken up and settled. The 
i- j j 4. • n u • j vu • The hundred, 

hundred court was especially busied with trying 

crimes of theft, usually cattle stealing, which was a common 

crime in those days. 

If for any reason a villager failed to get his suit taken up in 

the hundred court, he could carry his quarrel to the court of 

the shire. The division of the kingdom into shires 

, . . , . , . The shire, 

was ol early origin and may have resulted from 

the consolidation of the petty kingdoms: a few of the shires 
such as Sussex, Kent, Surrey, and Essex, are clearly the old 
kingdoms of the same name; many of the western and north- 
western shires are evidently of artificial origin; they were 
created when Alfred and his successors were adding Mercian 
territory to their kingdom. The system had reached its 
completion by Edgar's time, and has been changed but slightly 
since: the English shires have kept their old names and in 
general their old areas. After the Norman conquest they also 
took on the title of county, which was later brought to America. 

The shire was governed by a chief called an ealdorman, who 
might or might not have more than one shire. Another im- 
portant official was the shire reeve, whom we now The ealdor _ 
call the sheriff. The court of the shire, like that man and the 
of the hundred, was made up of the chief men from s en * 
the villages. It met twice a year, chiefly for judicial purposes. 
It may be believed that, in ordinary cases, disputes were 
settled on the testimony of those who had actual knowledge 
of the facts; but where evidence was wanting and suspicion 
strong, the court resorted to the ordeal. 

Like the other Germanic tribes, the Angles and Saxons had 

in such cases permitted the use of compurgation: the accused 

would swear to his own innocence, and if a certain „ 

Court proced- 
number of "oath helpers" would swear that they ure: com- 

believed his oath to be "clean," he was acquitted purgation and 

ordeal, 
of the charge. In an age when the belief that God 

would bring swift punishment upon every perjurer was still 



38 THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY 

strong, this method might be quite effective in cases where the 
accused was actually guilty. But it was soon superseded by the 
ordeal, which was a solemn appeal to God to declare the guilt or 
the innocence of the alleged criminal. 1 The ordeal was carried 
out by the priests and was accompanied by elaborate religious 
ceremonies. Various tests were employed, but that of the hot 
iron is typical: after the preliminaries had been completed, 
the accused would be given a red-hot iron to carry a short 
distance. That his hand would be burned was expected; 
but if the wound seemed fresh after three days, it was a sure 
indication of innocence. The ordeal, too, might be effective, 
as a man with a guilty conscience would be unlikely to submit 
to a fiery test. 

32. Development of the Monarchy: Central Govern- 
ment. 2 In theory the Old English kingdom was an absolute 
monarchy; in practice the royal power was not widely felt, 
as the king lacked the necessary machinery for effective govern- 
ment. Usually he took no steps of importance without consult- 
ing the great officials of the land, the bishops, the ealdormen, 
The Wite- and a few others, who formed the " meeting of 
nagemot. j-]^ w i S e," or the witenagemot. This body had a 

variety of vague powers, but only when a weak king was on the 
throne did it ever display much strength as a governing body. 

From the treaty of Chippenham, to the accession of Ethelred 
II, the Ill-counseled, was almost exactly a century. This was 
England in the the great age of the Old English monarchy. Sue- 
tenth century. cess f u i conquest gave the English a sense of strength 
and security. The literary impulse that Alfred gave to Saxon 
intellect continued and the tenth century saw the production 
of several spirited martial poems of great merit inspired by the 
struggle with the Danes. 3 The Anglo-Saxon kings entered 
into closer relations with the rulers of the Continent : several 
of Alfred's granddaughters found royal husbands across the 

1 Cheyney, No. 46. 2 Masterman, 16-19; Tuell and Hatch, No. 4. 

3 Cheyney, No. 43; Innes, I, 33~35; Kendall, No. 8 (Battle of Brunanburh); 
see Gardiner, 63. 



ST. DUNSTAN: MONASTIC REFORM 39 

sea. The church, however, did not share in the new vigor; 
especially were the monastic institutions in a bad way. This 
gave occasion for a thorough reform of the English church 
which was planned and carried out by the strenuous Dunstan, 
who became archbishop of Canterbury in 960 while the mighty 
Edgar was king. 

33. St. Dunstan: Monastic Reform. The medieval Eng- 
lishman looked with favor on the monastic life, though he 
did not enjoy its severities. It will be recalled D ec H ne 
that even as early as the time of Bede, when the of the 
English monasteries were scarcely more than monas enes ' 
half a century old, a loud complaint was raised against the 
corruption that had crept into the Northumbrian foundations. 1 
The viking invasions were very destructive to the discipline 
as well as to the prosperity of these houses ; and the settlement 
of large colonies of heathen among the discouraged Christians 
of the Danelaw cannot have failed to spread indifference and 
corruption in the church. But the English situation was by 
no means unique: the same paralyzing influence was felt in 
varying degree throughout all western Europe. 

In 910 a reform movement of vast consequences began in 
eastern France by the founding at Cluny of a great monastery 
where the Benedictine Rule was to be observed in TheCluniac 
all its strictness. Similar institutions were soon movement. 

910 

founded elsewhere, and these, unlike the older mon- 
asteries, were not independent, but were organized into a great 
federation of monasteries, the Congregation of Cluny, of which 
the abbot of the parent monastery was the chief. As each 
monastery was supervised and supported by the Congregation, 
it was easier to combat corrupting influences in these newer 
houses than under the older system of independent monasteries. 
A generation later the Cluniac ideals of reform and centraliza- 
tion had struck root in England, where their chief promoter 
was a learned monk from the Severn valley, the virile, but 
imperious and tactless, Dunstan. 2 

1 Review sec. 20. 2 Tuell and Hatch, No. 5. 



40 THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY 

About 950 Dunstan, as abbot of Glastonbury, completely 
reorganized this monastery according to Cluniac models. For 
Dunstan and tne next thirty years there was an active interest 
his reform in the revival of decayed or ruined monasteries 
after the stricter Benedictine type. Soon the 
movement extended to the Danelaw, and the monastic houses 
of the Fenlands rose once more. But Dunstan and his followers 
were not content with rebuilding monasteries and reviving 
discipline : their purpose was to make the reformed monks the 
controlling force in the English church. To this end they 
proceeded to reorganize the cathedrals and other important 
churches where the services were being performed by secular 
priests. 

The dispossession of these priests, whose places were taken 
by monks, and the arrogant behavior of the monastic party 
Civil war in called forth strong opposition, and the reign of 
the Danelaw. Edgar the Peaceful soon became a period of violent 
strife. It is significant that the trouble was limited to the 
southern Danelaw, where the partisans of the monks and the 
faction of the priests took up arms and brought the region to 
the verge of civil war. Such was the situation when Edgar 
died (975). 

34. The Viking Invasions Renewed. A few years later 
the Scandinavian pirates renewed their attacks on the English 
shores. The counties of the southwest were the first to suffer, 
as the raids apparently originated in the Norse colonies about 
the Irish Sea. But soon the entire coast from the mouth of 
the Thames to Bristol Channel was made to feel the fury of the 
vikings. It was not long before the raiders began plundering 
farther inland and even wintered on the island. The region 
that suffered most was the old kingdom of Wessex, which for 
more than thirty years knew only brief intervals of peace. 1 
Of the country north of the Thames, only the East Anglian 
regions were troubled to any great extent : the vikings usually 
spared the settlements of their countrymen. 

1 Cheyney, No. 48; Innes, I, 36-39; Kendall, No. 11. 



SWEYN FORKBEARD AND CNUT THE GREAT 



4i 



Danegeld. 



The king of England during this mournful period was Ethel- 
red the Ill-counseled, a younger son of the mighty Edgar, who 
came to the throne as a mere boy. As he developed Ethelred the 
into manhood it was discovered that he was grossly ^-counseled, 
incompetent ; but this defect was common to the English leaders 
of the age. With discontent and disloyalty north of the Thames 
and the vikings spreading desolation in the south, the king and 
the "wise men" soon found themselves in desperate straits. 
Finally the English chiefs hit upon the expedient of buying off 

the enemy. Silver to the sum of 
more than one hundred thousand 
pounds was collected and paid from 
time to time in the form 
of Danegeld (Dane- 
money). After each payment the 
enemy departed ; but soon the same 
bands, and others, too, that had been 
attracted by the news of British 
wealth, were once more in the land. 
So frequently was the Danegeld 
levied that it soon came to be looked 
upon as a permanent land tax, which 
might be collected even in times of 
peace. Finally the English adopted 
the even more doubtful expedient of 
hiring several thousands of these 
vikings to defend the land against 
their piratical brethren. 

35. Sweyn Forkbeard and Cnut the Great. 1 Among the 
Scandinavian chiefs who were interested in the English venture 
was Sweyn Forkbeard, the king of Denmark. Sweyn Fork- 
Sweyn was a king of the olden type, an able warrior beard - 
and a cunning diplomat, who seems to have regarded himself 
in the light of a war chief rather than of a national ruler. 
Several times this warlike king led a host into England. When 

1 Cheyney, No. 50. 




Anglo-Saxon Weapons 



42 



THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY 



he came for the last time (in 1013), it was with the avowed 
purpose of seizing Ethelred's kingdom. He sailed his fleet 
into the Humber and up the. Trent to Gainsborough, where he 
built his camp. Soon his army was in swift march southward 




*° LongitudeWestftomGrwrovich 2 



into Wessex. A brief campaign gave him control of the entire 

kingdom. Ethelred fled to Normandy. 

After a few months, Sweyn Forkbeard suddenly died, and 

the English rose in revolt. Ethelred returned, and with the 

aid of the viking mercenaries who had remained loyal to their 
agreement he drove the Danes, who were now led 
by Sweyn's younger son Cnut, out of the land. 

Cnut returned to Denmark, where his older brother was king, 



1014. 



THE ANGLO-SCANDINAVIAN EMPIRE 43 

and collected a new force of adventurers with which he invaded 
England in 1015. In this force were Danes, cnut the 
Norwegians, and Swedes ; Ethelred's mercenaries Great - 
now deserted and joined their countrymen. A hard-fought 
campaign followed, during which King Ethelred died. His 
son Edmund Ironside kept up the resistance with wonderful 
energy and for a time the war promised to be a drawn battle ; 
but in the autumn of 1016 the English suffered a crushing defeat 
at Ashington in East Anglia, and Cnut was master of the land. 
He divided the kingdom with Edmund, taking for The hatae of 
himself most of the country north of the Thames. Ashington. 
When Edmund died a few weeks later, the young 
conqueror came into possession of the entire kingdom. 

36. The Danish Rule in England. The Danish king 
governed England for nearly twenty years. It was galling 
to the Saxons to have to submit to an upstart pirate, who had 
neither crown nor lands elsewhere, and during the first few 
years of his reign there was much plotting ; but Cnut was able 
to defeat the conspirators on every occasion. He divided the 
Danelaw into a number of earldoms over which he placed the 
captains of his viking army. The West Saxon part of his 
kingdom he reserved for his own immediate rule. 

37. The Anglo-Scandinavian Empire. The native English 
gradually became reconciled to alien rule, for Cnut gave the 
country a long period of peace and good government such as 
England had not known so long as men could remember. He 
also strengthened his rule by making a strong 

alliance with the English church. Added luster king of Den- 
came to his kingship when Cnut succeeded his ™ arkanii 

Norway, 
brother as king of Denmark two or three years 

after he had mounted the English throne. About ten years 

later (1028) he added Norway to his dominions. The Danish 

kings had an ancient claim to the southern shores of Norway, 

but none to the kingdom as a whole. But King Olaf of Norway 

had made many enemies in his kingdom by his stern missionary 

methods and his ruthless persecution of the heathen worshipers. 



44 THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY 

Cnut seized the opportunity to press his claim, and Norway- 
was conquered without a battle. 

The old city of Winchester was thus the capital of a mighty 
empire of three kingdoms and several vassal states : for Cnut 
Other domin- had possessions on the south shores of the Baltic 
ions of Cnut. g ea . h e held the islands to the north and west of 
Scotland with parts of the Scotch mainland ; the east coast of 
Ireland may also have belonged to his empire. In this Anglo- 
Scandinavian empire the Danish rather than the English 
influence was dominant. What hopes Cnut may have had that 
the empire would remain a permanent creation 
were not realized : his sons did not possess their 
father's abilities, and seven years after Cnut's death, his 
kingdoms all had separate kings. 

38. The Reign of Edward the Confessor. 1 A new alien 
influence, the Norman-French, almost immediately succeeded 
that of the Danes. Ethelred the Ill-counseled had married 
Norman influ- Emma, a Norman princess, and their son Edward, 
enceinEng- known as the Confessor, who had spent thirty 
years in exile among his Norman kinsmen, became 
king of England after the death of Cnut's second son. With 
the new ruler, who was Norman in sympathies, came many of 
his friends and relatives, to whom he gave high offices in Eng- 
land. Especially did Edward favor the foreigners in filling the 
great offices of the church : the archbishopric of Canterbury, 
the highest dignity in the English church, was given to a Nor- 
man abbot. 

On the secular side, however, the chief offices remained 
largely in the hands of the English. In the south the ruling in- 
fluence was that of Godwin, King Edward's father- 
Rivalry of the . , , _ ,,..'.. it. 
families of in-law, one of Cnut s chief administrators, who had 

Godwin and r i se n from comparative obscurity to become Earl 
Leofnc. . 

of Wessex and husband of a Danish princess. In 

the Midlands a Mercian chief, Leofric, was the ranking earl. 

The history of the Confessor's reign centers largely about the 

1 Gardiner, 86-91. 



DUKE WILLIAM OF NORMANDY 45 

rivalry that existed between these two families. This reached 
a crisis ten years after Edward's accession, and resulted in 
civil war : Godwin and his many fierce sons were sent into tem- 
porary exile. 

39. Duke William of Normandy. The duchy of Nor- 
mandy L had been founded in the early part of the tenth cen- 
tury, a dozen years after the death of Alfred. In Normandy. 
911 a considerable force of Scandinavian pirates 911 - 
had taken possession of the lower Seine valley, and were per- 
mitted by the helpless French king to occupy and hold the land 
on condition that their chief should do homage to him and 
protect the Channel shore from the depredations of other 
vikings. The Northmen settled down in their new homes, 
intermarried with the conquered population, and accepted the 
faith of their neighbors and subjects. After a few generations 
the Normans had become French in language and civilization, 
though they continued to keep in close touch with their kins- 
men in Scandinavia. 

In the days of Edward the Confessor, William, a young prince 
of great strength of character and purpose, ruled in Normandy. 
He was Edward's cousin, and in 1051, while the Duke William 
Norman influence was at its height at the English of Normandy, 
court, he visited his English kinsman. It is said that Edward 
on that occasion promised to make William his successor to the 
English throne. It seems that William had an ambition to 
repeat the great exploit of Cnut ; and while no promise on the 
Confessor's part with respect to the succession could have any 
legal force, it might prove useful when the time came to raise 
forces for an invading expedition. 

Soon after this visit a reaction set in against Norman domina- 
tion. Earl Godwin was permitted to return from exile and 
was restored to all his rights. After his death his Earl Harold 
oldest son Harold succeeded to his dignities, and of Wessex - 
during the closing years of Edward's reign, he was the virtual 
ruler of the kingdom. 

1 Gardiner, 80-81. 



46 THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY 

40. The Death of Edward and the Election of Harold II. 

Edward the Confessor was a man of good purposes and inten- 
Ch racter tions, but he was weak and unkingly. At one time 

and rule of he seems to have looked forward to a monastic 
Edwar . career, and he never lost his admiration for the 

monastic life and habits. He believed in peace and frugal ad- 
ministration, and did not find it necessary to levy burdensome 
taxes. Among his people he enjoyed a reputation for saintli- 
Westminster ness ; this together with the fact that he discon- 
Abbey. tinued levying the Danegeld seems to have formed 

the basis for his great popularity. The last public act of his 
life was to assist at the dedication of Westminster Abbey, a 
church that was founded through his liberality and in which 
he showed a deep interest. He died early in January, 1066. 

Immediately four candidates appeared as claimants to the 
English throne : Harold, the earl of Wessex ; William, the 
Fourcandi- duke of Normandy; Edgar, a grandson of Ed- 
dates for the mund Ironside; and Harold, the king of Norway. 
English throne. Qf thege £dgar had the best right as representative 

of Alfred's dynasty ; but he was insignificant and incompetent 
and was never seriously considered. William of Normandy 
also claimed to represent the Saxon line as Edward's cousin 
and chosen heir ; Harold of Norway made a weak pretense at 
having inherited the rights of Cnut, though the reigning king 
of Denmark, who was Cnut's nephew, had a better right, but 
was not an active candidate. Harold of Wessex had no con- 
stitutional rights to the throne, but he was the ablest and 
mightiest lord in England and the late king's brother-in-law ; 
Election of he had long planned to secure the throne after 
Harold. Edward's death. A meeting of the lords was hur- 

riedly called, and Harold was chosen king. It is likely that 
this election was somewhat irregular, as the entire kingdom 
may not have been represented in this assembly. At any rate, 
the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, two brothers of the 
rival family of Leofric, did not accept the new king with 
any degree of loyalty. This was the weakness of Harold's 



BATTLES OF STAMFORD BRIDGE AND HASTINGS 47 



position : the English aristocracy did not give him its undivided 
support. 

41. The Battles of Stamford Bridge and Hastings. 1 

Harold ruled England for less than a year and spent nearly all 
the time in vain efforts to bolster up his tottering throne. Till 
early summer he was safe, as no hostile force would venture to 







Battle Abbey 

The Abbey of St. Martin of the Place of Battle was founded by William the 
Conqueror soon after the battle of Hastings; it was located on the battlefield. 

cross the sea in winter ; but trouble was in prospect, as both 
Harold of Norway and William of Normandy were preparing 
for an invasion. The English king collected a strong force on 
the Channel shore in expectation of a Norman landing. Wil- 
liam, however, was delayed by unfavorable winds and the Nor- 
wegian host had landed in Yorkshire before the Batt i eo f 
Normans were able to embark. King Harold hur- Stamford 
ried northward and crushed the Norwegians in the n ge * 
battle of Stamford Bridge. 2 Nevertheless, the Norse invasion 
was fatal to Anglo-Saxon freedom and nationality. While 
Harold was in Yorkshire, William was able to land his sea- 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 52, 54; Innes, I, 39-44; Robinson, No. 45; these accounts are 
from four different sources. 

2 Gardiner, 93-96. 



4 8 



THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY 



wearied Normans without opposition, and Harold now had to 
meet the new enemy with a weakened force. 

On October 19, 1066, the Norman and Saxon hosts met on 




William Sailing to England 
From the Bayeux Tapestry. 
The Bayeux Tapestry is a strip of linen cloth 231 feet long and 20 inches wide, 
on which is embroidered a series of pictures, seventy-two in all, illustrating the 
various stages of the Norman invasion of England. It seems likely that the tap- 
estry was prepared on the order of Bishop Odo, William I's half brother, for his 
cathedral at Bayeux. It is preserved in the public library of Bayeux. 

the field of Hastings l and fought a battle with the most far- 
Battle of reaching results. The nucleus of the Norman 
army was a splendid body of knights, heavily 
armed warriors mounted on powerful horses, whose 
favorite weapon was the sword. On the Saxon side the forces 
1 Gardiner, 96-98. 



Hastings. 
1066. 



THE NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND 49 

were grouped about the housecarles, a force made up chiefly 
of Scandinavian warriors that was organized by Cnut soon 
after his accession in England. The housecarles used the 
battle-ax as their principal weapon and fought on foot. The 
knight overcame the housecarle. When the fight was ended 
William had won a complete victory. The English had lost 
not only their army but their king : Harold and his brothers 
and the flower of the English host lay dead on the battlefield. 



T^YMjMrmfrmrFmx 




Norman Warriors Riding to Battle 
From the Bayeux Tapestry. 

42. The Norman Conquest of England. Two months later 
William was chosen king by the English lords and was crowned 
on Christmas day in the new church of Westminster. But 
actual control of England he did not have for some years. One 
revolt appeared after the other, especially in the old Danish 
settlements ; but they were local and sporadic. So long as the 
English did not unite in their resistance, William found it com- 
paratively easy to put down these rebellions. The Devastat i n 
conquest was carried forward in ruthless fashion : of the Vale of 
when the men of Yorkshire refused to submit, 
William marched his army into the beautiful vale of York and 



50 THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY 

transformed it into a desert. 1 For a distance of more than 

fifty miles between York and Durham, not a single 
Hereward. „/ , __ . * 

village was spared, the last important revolt 

was that of Hereward, a Mercian of noble ancestry who led 

an uprising in the Fenlands, and whose exploits became a 

favorite theme in the ballad literature of medieval times. It 

was not until the surrender of Hereward in 107 1 that William 

could look upon the work of conquest as completed. 




Seal of William the Conqueror 

43. Summary. The history of the Old English kingdom 
covers exactly two centuries : it begins with the accession of 
Alfred to the throne of Wessex in 871 and closes with the com- 
pletion of the Norman conquest in 107 1. Of these two cen- 
turies, the first was a period of greatness and growth in almost 
every field of English life ; the second was an age of disaster 
and decline. During the tenth century the English kings 
pushed their boundaries to the limits of Wales and Scotland 
and formed the whole into a single kingdom. The period was 
also one of notable achievements in literature, in education, 
and in church reform. But the new structure had a fatal 
weakness : it was based too largely on conquest. The Dane- 
law 2 was the larger part of the kingdom ; and it was inhabited 
by Angles who had no strong sense of loyalty to the kings of 

1 Cheyney, No. 55. 2 Review sec. 29. 



SUMMARY 51 

Wessex and by Danes who had resisted them to the utmost. 
Had the dynasty of Alfred been permitted to remain in peace 
on the new English throne for another century, it is likely that 
Saxons, Angles, and Danes would have been welded into a 
single nationality ; but the viking invasions prevented this. 

After southern England had been pillaged by the vikings for 
thirty years, the strength of Wessex was gone, and Sweyn Fork- 
beard found conquest a comparatively easy task. When the 
English people submitted to Cnut in 1016, they gave up their 
right to govern England; for Cnut placed foreigners in many 
of the higher offices, and after the Danes were gone, the Nor- 
mans came in with Edward the Confessor. Cnut built up an 
empire, but he added nothing to the territories of England, and 
he lost Lothian to the Scots. 1 Edward did nothing to con- 
solidate his kingdom and the two great sections continued to 
drift apart. The campaign against William of Normandy 
should have called out all the forces of the kingdom, but the 
lords of the Danelaw sulked and failed to appear at Hastings ; 
and the enemy conquered. 

REFERENCES 

Alfred. — Oman, History of England, 37-44; Ransome, Advanced History 
of England, 53-60; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 43-49; Plummer, 
Life and Times of Alfred; Tappan, In the Days of Alfred the Great. 

The Danish conquest: Cnut. — Oman, 52-56; Ransome, c. viii; Tout, 
57-61; Larson, Canute the Great. 

Later Anglo-Saxon institutions. — Andrews, History of England, c. iii; 
Irines, History of England, 38-49; Cross, History of England, c. v. 

The coming of the Normans. — Fletcher, Introductory History of England, 
I, i, 77-85; Oman, 62-71; Ransome, 81-93; Tout, 67-72. 

English life before the Norman conquest. — Gardiner, Student's His- 
tory of England, c. v; Tout, 73-80; Wrong, History of the British Nation, c. v. 

1 Gardiner, 84. 



CHAPTER III 



ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE 

44. Policy of William. William of Normandy apparently 
did not regard himself as a conqueror : he professed to believe, 
in his rights to the English crown as Edward's heir. It was, 

therefore, his avowed pur- 
pose to govern England as 
an English king ; to enforce 
English laws ; and to main- 
tain English institutions. 
The results of the conquest, 
however, do not show any 
clear traces of this policy : 
the coming of William and 
his Norman barons initiated 
certain marked changes in 
English government and so- 
ciety, some of which came 
to be permanent features 
of the English constitution 
and of English life. 1 

45. The Norman Aris- 
tocracy. Perhaps the most 
important of the earlier re- 
sults was the destruction 
of the native Anglo-Saxon 
aristocracy. The English 
nobles fell in great numbers on the field of Hast- 
ings where Earl Godwin's family perished, in the 
uprisings led by the family of Leofric two years 
later, and in various later revolts. During William's reign the 

» Tuell and Hatch, No. 8 (Freeman) ; Gardiner, 104-106. 
52 




Ideal of Plan a Twelfth Century 
Castle 



Destruction of 
the English 
aristocracy. 



THE NORMAN ARISTOCRACY 



53 



Danes made two expeditions to the English shores, 1 the chief 
results of which were the ruin of several important native chiefs 
who had joined the Scandinavians in the hope of dislodging 
William. As a rule, the Conqueror was generous to his Eng- 
lish opponents if they were of noble blood; usually he spared 
their lives, though in such cases he managed to render them 
harmless by transporting them to Normandy. Those whom he 
permitted to remain in England were deprived of their lands 
and wealth, and consequently lost all their power and influence. 
In these various ways the native Englishmen lost their natural 
leaders and organized opposition was made impossible. 

The places of authority and power that had formerly been 
held by the English nobility King William gave to his Norman 
followers and barons. These aliens were often The Norman 
permitted to live in castles, which in theory be- castles - 
longed to the king but were held by the barons on his behalf. 
A castle was a combination of home, 
fortress, and camp. At first it was 
merely a fortified enclosure or a single 
square building called a keep, built with 
massive walls and several stories high ; 
but in time a more elaborate form of cas- 
tle-building arose. The later castle was 
an enclosure surrounded by a deep moat 
and a strong wall provided with towers 
at regular intervals to facilitate defense. 
Along the wall on the inside were placed 
the necessary buildings : the lord's hall, 
the chapel, the kitchen, the barns, the 
stables, the barracks for the retainers, 
and various other buildings. In this lit- 
tle fortress the lord kept a number of 
warriors, often mercenaries and in the Norman period usually 
foreigners, a force that served as a garrison and an army of 
occupation for the neighborhood. With the country dotted 

1 Innes, I, 45-48. 




Hawking 

A favorite form of amuse- 
ment of the Norman nobility- 
including the ladies. The 
hawks were trained to assist 
in certain forms of hunting. 
From the Luttrell Psalter, 
ca. 1340. 



54 ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE 

with such fortresses, a native uprising had only the slightest 
chance to succeed. 

46. Dispossession of the English. The experience of 
earlier kings had been that a vassal so well provided with 
military strength might become a dangerous subject; but the 
circumstances of the conquest forestalled such results in England. 
It was with difficulty that William had persuaded his barons 
to join in the invasion ; he finally had to enter into a series of 
separate agreements with them, according to which they were 
all to be rewarded with English lands and honors, each in 
Confiscation proportion to the assistance rendered. By dis- 
of land. possessing the Anglo-Saxon nobility much land was 

secured for distribution ; but the Conqueror went farther and 
confiscated the lands of almost every Englishman who had 
Distribution joined in resisting the Normans. The distribu- 
of land to tion of land began in southern England soon after 

the battle of Hastings. After each subsequent 
rebellion more land was confiscated, until finally the great mass 
of the native population was deprived of all rights to the earth. 

These successive confiscations als.o had the result that the 
possessions of the Norman lords came to be, not large compact 
areas as on the Continent, but a number of estates usually 
called "manors" sometimes widely scattered and in counties 
far apart. In this way the noble was unable to mass his 
strength, and the danger from rebellion on the part of the bar- 
Revolt of ons was materially reduced. Nine years after the 
1075 - battle of Hastings, two of these Norman magnates, 
the earls of Hereford and Norfolk, planned a revolt; but 
William was able to defeat the conspiracy with little difficulty, 
and he inflicted severe punishment on the followers of the two 
rebels. From that time on, the restless Normans held their 
peace until after the Conqueror's death ; but no sooner had 
Revolt of the William II succeeded to the throne than he had 
barons. 1088. j- f ace revolts in several parts of his kingdom. On 
this occasion the Norman king called on the English militia in 
the counties near London to assist in fighting the rebellious 



THE MANORIAL SYSTEM: VILLEINAGE 



55 



nobles; the English came in force, and the conspiracy was 
unsuccessful. 

47. The Manorial System: Villeinage. 1 This disposses- 
sion of the English was the second great change that came with 
the conquest. It is not to be supposed that the natives were 
driven away from the land ; the Normans needed them to till 
the soil and permitted them to remain in possession of their 
farms so long as they rendered the services and paid the dues 
that the new system demanded. Practically the entire rural 
population was in this way forced into villeinage. The English 
A serf, or villein, was an unfree farmer who tilled become vii- 
a farm that was assigned to him on condition that eins ' 
he should render certain payments in the form of products, 




Carts and Ox teams 
Eleventh Century. 

labor, and sometimes money. So long as these conditions 
were promptly met the villein could not be deprived of his 
land ; nor could he surrender the farm, for a villein was regarded 
as belonging to the soil like a house or a tree. His duty was to 
till faithfully, and this duty was inherited by his children. For 
a long time there was practically no refuge for a dispossessed 
serf, no place where he might go and find a welcome ; conse- 
quently, he found it expedient to labor at his farm in quiet 
obedience. 

It is easy, however, to overestimate the servile condition of 
the villein; his rights very soon came to be clearly defined, 
and it is not likely that the villagers suffered much from arbi- 

1 Innes, Industrial Development, 46-56. 



56 ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE 

trary treatment on the part of the lord. Life on the manor 
was regulated by time-honored customs ; and these the vil- 
leins would not permit the lord to set aside. It is also clear 
that, if the landlord subjected his villeins to very much ill 
Treatment of treatment, his income from the land was likely to 
the villeins. shrink. There is probably more discontent, degra- 
dation, poverty, and actual suffering in large sections of the 
modern industrial city than in the medieval village, where the 
population was rooted to the soil. 

48. Norman Feudalism in England. 1 Upon this basis of 
villeinage the Normans built an aristocratic system, a form of 
what on the Continent was called feudalism. The feudal 
system (if we can use the term system for an arrangement so 
Origin and confused and unsystematic) originated and de- 
nature of veloped in the Frankish Empire during the troub- 
lous times of the eighth and ninth centuries. It 
was at once a government and a social system. In theory the 
king owned all the land, which he distributed among his chief 
lords, who would in turn give parts of their share to men of 
lesser rank. All who in this way had land that had been given 
Dues services ^y a king or a lord owed certain services to this 
and privileges overlord which they must render, or all their rights 
to the land would be forfeited. 2 In this respect 
the lord resembled the serf ; but the lord had privileges that the 
villein did not possess : the dues that he owed were honorable, 
while those paid by the villein were servile ; the lord's profession 
was warfare and government, and his sons might also look for- 
ward to honorable careers as important officials in the church. 
The serf, on the other hand, was practically bound to manual 
labor ; if the lord permitted, his son might enter the service of 
the church ; but ordinarily a villein could have no hopes beyond 
the limits of the manor. 

It is important to remember that King William did not give 
out all the confiscated lands. Like the other lords he had 
estates all over England which were managed by stewards 

1 Masterman, 22-24. 2 Cheyney, No. 81. 



JUSTICE AND POLICE IN NORMAN TIMES 57 

who were responsible to the king as landlord. On these estates 
the farmers rendered service and paid rent directly Th .. 
to the king. This group of manors was known as landlord; the 
the king's demesne and was far larger than the royal demesne - 
possessions of any other landlord in the kingdom. 

49. Justice and Police in Norman Times. The introduc- 
tion of feudalism and villeinage brought about certain profound 
changes in the constitution of the kingdom. The L , 
Norman lord was at the same time a warrior, a ment under 
landlord, and a local ruler. He was given his land feudalism - 
that he might be able to equip himself with horses, weapons, 
armor, and other necessities of warfare, and to bring other 
armed men with him. But he not only drew revenue from the 
land, he also governed the people upon the land, at least to a 
very large extent. Government in those days meant chiefly 
furnishing police protection, settling disputes and quarrels, 
and punishing criminals. As there was no regular system of 
police officials, William decreed that all the men of the villages 
who had reached the age of twelve years should be grouped as 
nearly as might be into groups of ten, each group The frank- 
to be responsible for its own members to the extent P led s e - 
of securing the arrest of any one who should offend against the 
law. This institution was called the frankpledge and was 
under the supervision of the sheriff. 

Ordinarily the lord was allowed to have his own law-court 
on his estates, where the villeins met under the presidency of 
the lord's steward, or other representative, to settle The private 
the disputes of the community. It was presumed (manorial) 
that the Old English law would be applied in these 
courts ; but the Normans had little knowledge of what was law 
in England, so there was introduced a great deal of Norman 
custom which was accepted as binding. Local customs, too, 
grew up and these also received the force of law. 

The establishment of these private manorial courts meant 
the practical extinction of one of the old judicial institutions : * 

1 Review sec. 31. 



58 ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE 

the hundred court, which in Saxon times had heard a vast num- 
Declineofthe ^er °^ P ettv disputes and complaints, had now 
Old English almost no business to transact, and gradually with- 
courts. ere( j awa y ^he county court also suffered some- 

what in prestige ; but it did not wholly disappear, as there 
was much litigation that the manorial courts could not be 
expected to take up and settle. The survival of the shire court 
and the sheriff's office was of prime importance. A century 
after the conquest the kings became anxious to reduce the 
power and authority of the feudal lords, and in the struggle 
that followed they found the old shire government exceedingly 
useful. 

50. The Great Council: the Curia Regis. The changes 
in the central government are chiefly concerned with two 
The Great institutions, the exchequer and the council of the 
Council of barons. According to feudal practice, the council 
of the barons l should be made up of all who had 
received land directly from the king, that is, of the tenants-in- 
chief. As there were hundreds of such tenants and many of 
them had received only small grants from the king, it is likely 
that only the more important actually attended these meetings. 
King William spent much of his time in Normandy ; but when 
he was in England he entertained his chief men at three great 
church festivals, Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. These 
occasions were not wholly social : important political matters 
were brought up and discussed, though it is not likely that the 
king was expected to follow the advice of the barons unless he 
felt disposed to do so. 

The king also kept a small group of counselors and officials 
continuously at court to assist him in the management of his 
The Curia affairs as king and landlord. This body was com- 
Regis. monly called the curia regis 2 or "king's court," a 

vague term that was also at times used for the great council. 
The membership was largely composed of lawyers and church- 
men, the latter being chosen for their knowledge of Latin and 

1 Masterman, 25-26. 2 Gardiner, 127; Masterman, 26-27, 33~34- 



THE GREAT COUNCIL: THE CURIA REGIS 



59 



for their ability to draw up documents. In its earlier days 
the curia regis transacted a great variety of business ; but when 
some particular phase of the government grew to great impor- 
tance it would be assigned to some part of the membership and 



rVnsswaws &imr* A*rSf vtrum *<&mm 

! Srtimg*'. "' If *■• 



ntc. ktfe 



■ fw» ttifr* onoEHinr, turn *»«*, • i 
•MW» mtlius 1 fttatUS fife* ! 



r 




William the Conqueror's Writ and Seal 
Translation or William I's Grant to Coventry 

William, king of the English, sends greetings to Peter, bishop of Chester, 
and Earl William Fitzosbern and Hugh, earl of Chester, and to his other 
earls, barons, and sheriffs, and to all his faithful liegemen, both French and 
English. You shall know that I have granted and confirmed to God and 
the church of St. Mary at Coventry and to Abbot Leofwine and the brethren 
of that place, for their support and sustenance, all the gifts of land and of 
all other things which Earl Leofric gave to them for the health of his soul, to 
to be held with sac and soc, toll and team, as fully and freely as King Edward 
of pious memory, my kinsman, gave the same to them even more fully and 
freely and confirmed the gift with his charters. These are the witnesses: 
Odo, bishop of Bayeux; Gosfrid, bishop of Coutances; Robert, count of 
Mortain; Roger, earl of Montgomery; Henry of Ferrers. 

("Sac and soc" is a technical term for the right to try criminal offences 
and to collect the fines imposed on conviction; "toll" means the right 
to collect, or to be excused from paying, tolls; "team" probably meant the 
right to summon to a private court men who ordinarily would not be under 
the jurisdiction of that court.) 



this group would in time develop into a separate body. Out 
of this curia regis nearly all the central administration of the 
kingdom has developed: the central law courts, the privy 
council, and the cabinet. 



60 ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE 

51. Financial Administration: the Exchequer. The Nor- 
man kings were thrifty administrators and sought to enlarge 
Domesday the royal revenues as much as possible. It was for 
Book. this purpose that William the Conqueror shortly 

before his death had the great assessment made that is re- 

■ ■■■■mi T:r\ 



Jra^JSmLrwV S^fNhf SMf.S *"<W JWS.raut* 

Part of a Page from Domesday Book 

Translation 
The king's land. King William holds Windsor in demesne. King Edward 
held it. There are twenty hides. There is land [ ]. There is one plow 

on the demesne; and there are twenty -two villeins and two bordars [cotters] 
with ten plows. There is one serf, and there is a fishery worth six shillings 
and eight pence; and there are forty acres of meadow. The woodland yields 
pannage * for fifty swine, and other woodland is enclosed [in the king's forest]. 
In addition there are in the vill one hundred less five haws [enclosed home- 
steadsPJ. Of these twenty-six are exempt from dues; the rest yield thirty 
shillings. 

* By " pannage " is meant dues from the pasturing of swine. 

corded in Domesday Book. 1 Commissioners were sent into all 
the hundreds of the kingdom, and by the aid of the landlords 
and the villeins all the land in the kingdom was valued and ap- 
praised, each manor by itself. It was possible to determine by 
this assessment what the economic situation was in all parts of 
the kingdom, how much land tax each village was in the habit 
of paying, and how much might be expected in future levies. 

Under Henry I, the third Norman king, there first appears 
The Ex- a department of finance, the exchequer, which still 

chequer. exists as a very important part of the English gov- 

ernment- Most of the revenue due the king from each county 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 67, 68; Gardiner, 111-112; Kendall, p. 44. 



THE BOROUGHS 61 

was collected by the sheriff of the county. Twice a year, at 
Easter and at Michaelmas (September 29), the sheriff had to 
appear at Westminster to render accounts for what was due the 
king and to settle with the treasurer. The settlement was 
made in the exchequer chamber, where the chief members of 
the curia regis and their clerks were gathered about a large 
table covered with a striped cloth. Tokens were used instead 
of actual coins ; and as the whole transaction suggested a game 
of chess, the table came to be known as the exchequer table 
and the chamber as the exchequer. At the present time the 
chancellor of the exchequer is one of the chiefs in the cabinet, 
being second only to the prime minister. His duty is to watch 
over the expenditures of the government, to estimate the funds 
needed for the coming year, and to suggest ways and means 
of procuring them. 

52. The Boroughs. 1 The chief sources of the Norman 
king's income were the revenues from his estates, the services 
rendered by his feudal tenants, and the ancient The king's 
dues from the counties ; but it was not long before revenues, 
new sources were discovered in the cities. The cities, or 
boroughs, as they were called, had suffered much during the 
turbulent years that followed 1066 ; many of them were entirely 
destroyed. But the need for commercial centers The boroughs 
and regular market places soon caused these to be of Norman 
rebuilt, and other new ones were founded. The 
Norman invasion which was at first disastrous to the cities soon 
led to their growth and prosperity. The Normans were excel- 
lent builders and the new boroughs were a great improvement 
over the old. The contact with Normandy led to an increase 
of trade ; and gradually close and enduring business connections 
were formed with the commercial centers on the Continent, 
especially with Flanders and the Hanse-towns in northern 
Germany. 

The character of the population of these boroughs also 
changed, for into these refounded cities came two new elements, 

1 Innes, Industrial Development, 43~45- 



62 ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE 

the Norman trader and the Jew. Consequently, the boroughs 
and * ost tne * r English character to a large extent. Cities 
Jewish could not very well be governed under feudal law, 

traders. as t ^ s presupposed rural occupations. It therefore 

became customary to give these boroughs charters of self gov- 
ernment. This privilege was a very desirable one, and usually 
had to be paid for, the price going to the royal treasury. Or- 
dinarily the right to govern the city was placed in the hands 
of organized groups of merchants and tradesmen called gilds. 
53. The Normans and the Church. Nowhere were the 
changes felt more profoundly than in the English church. As 

-. AT William found it advisable to establish a new aris- 

IneJNorman 

officials in tocracy, he found it fully as important to replace 
the church. the Eng ^ sri hierarchy with Norman prelates. It 
was not long before the bishops, the abbots, and many of the 
lower church officials were men from the Continent. Thus the 
authority and influence of alien leadership radiated not only 
from castles and manorial courts, but also from cathedrals, 
churches, and monasteries. In control of the church as arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, William placed an Italian monk, the 
learned Lanfranc, who had earlier served as abbot 
of the important Norman monastery of Bee. 
Lanfranc was a man after the king's own heart, a lawyer and 
a statesman rather than an ecclesiastic, a churchman whose 
legal training had inclined him to place emphasis on the secular 
rather than on the ecclesiastical side of government. 

Though Lanfranc believed in the king's authority over the 
church, the result of the new regime was to reduce this authority 
and to bring the English church into closer dependence upon 
Rome. This was in part due to a promise made to the Papacy 
in 1066, when William was asking the papal blessing on his 
proposed expedition against a Christian king; but in greater 
part it was the outcome of a great reforming movement that 
was sweeping across Europe in the eleventh century. 

54. The Reform Movement of the Tenth and Eleventh 
Centuries. During the Saxon period the English church, 



REFORM MOVEMENT IN THE CHURCH 



63 




64 ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE 

though it loyally recognized the headship of the Roman see, 
The freedom enjoyed large freedom in its internal government, 
of the Anglo- Three reasons may be assigned for this: England 
Saxon church. wag £ ar distant f rom t ^ e ca pital of Christendom ; 
in the tenth and eleventh centuries the papacy was far too busy 
with its interests in Italy to give much attention to the distant 
churches ; and until the middle of the eleventh century no 
Theiegatine efficient machinery had been devised for the super- 
system, vision of churches beyond the Alps. But in the 
days of William I a system of papal envoys called legates 
was being developed, and a larger conception of the term 
Catholic came to hold sway at Rome, largely through the 
activities of William's mighty contemporary, the 
Tuscan monk Hildebrand, later Pope Gregory VII. 
Serious minded men had long been grieved to see the world- 
liness and corruption that seemed to permeate the church and 
believed that the cause of the evil lay in a too close dependence 
of the church on the state. The Cluniac movement 1 of the 
tenth century looked toward a correction of these evils: its 
aim was to free the church from worldliness by pledging the 
clergy to a celibate life and by securing freedom for the church 
to put its own chief officials into office without any assistance 
or interference from the secular government. 

55. William I and Gregory VII. Conditions in the English 
church under Edward the Confessor had not been ideal: fur- 
thermore, the archbishop Stigand had been disloyal in recog- 
nizing an anti-pope. Hildebrand, who was the greatest single 
force at the Roman court, saw in William's ambitions an 
opportunity to gain a powerful ally, and induced the reluctant 
Changes and P°P e to bless a venture that looked very much 
reforms in like piracy. In return for this recognition Wil- 
churctrceli- ^ am a g ree d to the Roman demand for a celibate 
bacy; church clergy so far as to forbid future marriages of 
churchmen ; but marriages already existing he re- 
fused to disturb. He also permitted the church to establish its 

1 Review sec. 33. 



WILLIAM I AS KING 65 

own separate courts where questions that concerned the officials 
and the property of the church were to be tried and decided 
according to church law and by ecclesiastical judges. In 
William's own day this was scarcely a serious matter; but in 
the following century the rise and growth of the universities 
brought great accessions to the clerical ranks, for all graduates 
were classed as churchmen. This was also the age of the Crusades 
and the religious fervor that accompanied these movements 
led to a notable increase in the amount of church property. 
At the same time there was rapid growth of law and judicial 
machinery within the church. Because of these developments 
William's concession of separate church courts came to be of 
the first importance. 

On a third point, however, the demand that the church 
should be allowed to select and invest its own officials, the 
Conqueror refused to yield: as the rulers of Election and 
the church also assisted in the government of the investiture, 
state, he could not afford to part with the power of appoint- 
ment, and the pope did not insist. It is likely that the conflict 
just then raging between Gregory VII and the emperor, Henry 
IV, which culminated in the famous meeting at Canossa, had 
much to do with the consideration that Gregory showed to 
William. A demand on the part of the pope that The refusal 
the new English king should do homage for his of homage, 
kingdom met with a respectful but firm refusal; x and on this 
point, too, the pope thought it wiser not to insist. 

56. William I as King. William the Conqueror governed 
England for twenty years, a period of great sorrow to the 
English, and, still, a period that was not without notable 
benefits to the land. The merits of William's rule lay in his 
striving after efficient government and in the even-handed 
justice that he dealt out to all his subjects. In his day the 
life and property of loyal Englishmen were as character of 
safe as the crude police machinery of the age could Wllham L 
make them. The Chronicle tells us that he "was a very wise 

1 Cheyney, No. 65. 



66 



ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE 



man and very powerful; more dignified and strong than any 
of his predecessors were. He was mild to the good men who 
loved God; and over all measure severe to the men who gain- 
said his will. ... So also was he a very stark and cruel man, 
so that no one durst do anything against his will." His great 




The Tower of London 

The tall rectangular building within the enclosing walls is the White Tower, 
which was built by the Normans in 1078. 



passion was the chase: "As greatly did he love the tall deer 
as if he were their father." He also loved wealth and is accused 
of driving hard bargains. 1 But in his way William the Con- 
queror did much to consolidate the English nationality : he 
crushed out all provincial aspirations after self-rule. This 
was a benefit to the English race, but it was a benefit that was 
dearly bought. 

When William died (1087), his Continental dominions, Nor- 
mandy and Maine, which were held as a fief from the French 
king passed according to feudal law to his first-born, the weak 

1 Cheyney, No. 63; Innes, I, 51-54; Kendall, No. 16. 



CUMBERLAND, WALES, AND NORMANDY 67 

and undutiful Robert, who had at one time even been guilty 
of stirring up rebellion against his father. Eng- Accession of 
land was in theory an elective monarchy; and William 11. 
the great council of bishops, abbots, and barons 
had a right to choose any one of the king's three sons; but 
the lords followed the leadership of Lanfranc and accepted 
the Conqueror's choice, his second son, William Rufus. 

57. The Tyranny of William Rufus. 1 The "Red King," 
like his father, was a man of ability and resolute strength; 2 
but he was lacking in the Norman sense of order character of 
and in respect for the church. According to feudal Willto Rufus. 
custom, when a lord died his lands were inherited by his oldest 
son or 'by his nearest male heir; but the heir did not come 
into possession before he had paid the overlord a sum of money 
that was known as relief. The amount of this payment was 
fixed by custom, but William Rufus disregarded all law and 
collected exorbitant reliefs. He also contrived Thepr oblem 
to keep important church offices vacant so as to oHeudal 
be able to collect the revenues from the lands 
attached to these. In this way he provoked much hostility 
among the higher classes in the kingdom. 

58. Cumberland, Wales, and Normandy. But William 
II also carried out several measures of permanent importance. 
In the northwest, Cumberland was still foreign territory in 
the hands of the Scottish king. In 1092 William Cumberland . 
seized this region and added it to England. He 
also made considerable progress toward the conquest of Wales. 
William the Conqueror had established several important 
lordships on the Welsh border and had allowed these border 
barons, or Welsh marchers, as they were called, to extend 
their power and their lands into Wales as far and The Welsh 
as fast as they were able. A considerable strip of Marches. 
Eastern Wales was conquered through the efforts of these 
lords of the Marches; but this territory was held without 

1 Cheyney, No. 70; Innes, I, 59-64, 69-70; three separate accounts. 

2 Cheyney, No. 71. 



68 ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE 

much regard for the rights of either Welsh princes or English 
kings. Finally William Rufus took a hand in the conquest, 
but his success was chiefly in establishing English control 
over the regions already seized, and in bringing the Welsh 
border under the authority of the English king. 

With his brother Robert of Normandy King William was 
not long at peace, as each coveted the other's dominions. 
Since many lords held lands on both sides of the Channel, the 
William be- Norman-English nobility felt that the duchy 
comes ruler of and the kingdom ought to be under the same ruler, 
preferably under Duke Robert, who was thought 
to be more easy-going than King William and less strenuous 
in asserting his rights. Toward the close of the eleventh 
century a powerful wave of religious enthusiasm swept over 
The First western Europe and culminated in the First Cru- 

Crusade. sade. Duke Robert was seized with the fervor, 

and in order to secure funds sufficient for suitable equipment, 
he mortgaged his duchy to William II of England, who for the 
remaining four years of his life governed both England and 
Normandy. 

59. Henry I: the Acquisition of Normandy. While 
William Rufus was hunting in the New Forest one summer 
Accession of day in noo, he was shot, perhaps accidentally, by 
Henry I. a memD er of the hunting party and mortally 

wounded. 1 When his brother Henry who was present learned 
that the king had fallen, he dashed away to the neighboring 
city of Winchester and seized the royal treasury which was 
kept there, summoned a few of the English lords, and had 
Character of himself elected king of England. Henry was the 
Henry I. Conqueror's third son. He was a carefully edu- 

cated and capable man, avaricious like his brother William, 
but more self-controlled and possessed of greater insight as a 
statesman. 2 

Henry's accession was anything but regular; and when a 

1 Innes, I, 64-68; Bates and Coman, 45-48 (Kingsley, The Red King). 

2 Innes, I, 70-71. 



THE INVESTITURE STRIFE 69 

few weeks later his brother Robert returned from the Holy 
Land with much prestige as a valorous crusader, The claims 
he laid claim to the kingdom and found some of Robert- 
support among the nobles in England. He was unable to 
make his claim good, however, but strained relations continued 
between the brothers and resulted in open warfare five years 
later. Henry was victorious and seized the Norman duchy, 
which remained a French fief in possession of the English king 
for almost exactly a century longer. Duke Robert spent most 
of the remaining years of his life as his brother's prisoner in 
Cardiff castle in South Wales. 

60. Henry I and the Church: Anselm. The Norman 
difficulty was settled in 1106. The same year King Henry 
solved another problem that he had inherited from Theinvesti- 
his predecessor : the question of investiture had ture strife - 
become a serious difficulty. After the death of Lanfranc, 
William Rufus had kept the see of Canterbury vacant for 
several years, to the great injury of the national church, inas- 
much as no new bishop could be consecrated in the province 
of Canterbury while this vacancy continued. When a successor 
was finally selected, the choice fell upon another Italian, the 
monk Anselm, a man of learning and saintly char- Anselm 
acter, whose soul was on fire with enthusiasm for 

the church, and in whose eyes the needs and claims of the king 
and his government counted for very little. Ancient custom 
demanded that the king should be present at the installation 
of a bishop, and that he should hand him the symbols of the 
episcopal office, the staff and the ring. Anselm refused to let 
William Rufus participate in the investiture of the newly 
elected prelates, and the investiture strife was on in England. 1 
As the king was unyielding, Anselm left the country and spent 
several years in voluntary exile. 

61. The Investiture Strife: the Compromise of 1106. 
Henry I recalled him; but the king and the archbishop differed 
as before. The church had recently developed a new organ 

1 Cheyney, No. 76. 



70 ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE 

for the election of bishops, the cathedral chapter, which was 
The cathedral composed of the priests, or canons as they were 
chapters. called, who carried on the church services in the 

various cathedrals. Of these canons there might be only half 
a dozen, or there might be as many as two score; the number 
would depend on the size, needs, and wealth of the cathedral. 
They were organized into a corporation called the chapter, 
headed by a dean. When the cathedral was located in a mon- 
astery, as was the case at Canterbury, the monks composed 
the chapter and claimed the right to choose the archbishop, 
who was at the same time their abbot. 

The earlier custom had been for the king to designate the 
new bishop and, after the choice had been confirmed at Rome, 
to invest the candidate with the staff and the ring, and to 
The "tempo- hand over to him the " temporalities" of the see. 
ralities." gy ^ e temporalities was meant the property, 

chiefly in land, from the revenues of which the bishops derived 
their financial support. It was now the desire of the church 
to emphasize further the spiritual character of the church 
offices by denying to the king any share whatever in the in- 
vestiture ceremonies. 

When Anselm returned, King Henry called upon him to do 
homage for the Canterbury lands, to pay the customary dues 
to the king, and to pledge the services that his predecessors had 
The compro- pledged ; but the archbishop refused. For several 
mise of 1106. years the dispute continued, until it was ended 
by the compromise of 1106. 1 Of the three questions in dispute, 
homage, investiture, and election, the king and the church 
each surrendered one : the king gave up the right to invest, 
while the church agreed to pay the customary homage. On 
the far more important subject of election it was agreed that 
the cathedral chapter should elect the bishop and the monks 
of the monastery should choose the abbot; but that the king 
might be present at the election either in person or by a repre- 
sentative. On the whole the compromise was a victory for 

1 Cheyney, No. 77. 



THE PROBLEM OF THE SUCCESSION 71 

the king : his nominees were from this time on usually ac- 
cepted and formally elected by the proper authorities ; and 
his feudal superiority over the monastic and cathedral lands was 
conceded. 

62. Henry I as a Ruler. The reign of Henry I was, on the 
whole, quiet and uneventful. Like his brother he was eager 
to amass wealth ; but he had more discretion and foresight. 
He understood that greater revenues could be extracted by 
legal and customary means from a contented and prosperous 
people than by violent measures from a nation in Charter of 
distress. A few days after his accession he issued Henr y L 

a charter in which he promised the barons that the illegal 
practices of his brother William Rufus should be discontinued. 
Henry also promised to give up various other evil practices, 
but as usual the performance was not equal to the promise. 

The English king had an ancient right to certain fines that 
were levied in the local courts, and Henry I found it expedient 
to watch these closely. Henry was a king who loved order and 
justice for their own sakes as well as for the revenues that 
came in the form of fines and forfeitures. In his Revival of Old 
day a great interest appeared in Old English law. En e llsh law - 
Lawyers began the study of Anglo-Saxon legislation, and 
summaries and translations were made of the old laws, especially 
of the laws of Cnut, which were the most recent as well as the 
most complete. 

63. The Problem of the Succession; 1 the Anarchy of 
Stephen's Reign. Henry I also endeared himself to the English 
people by marrying Edith, a Scotch princess of the house of 
Alfred, the niece of Edgar the Etheling, who had been his 
father's competitor for the English throne in 1066. But the 
king found himself growing old without a male heir to succeed 

1 The Norman line of kings, 1066-1154. 
William I, 1066-1087. 

Robert, duke of Normandy, •William II, Henry I, Adela 

died 1135 1087-1100 1100-1135 I 

Stephen 
1135-1154 



72 ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE 

him. 1 His daughter Matilda, who had married as her second 

husband Geoffrey Plantagenet, the duke of Anjou, 

Matilda , . . . , J & . , _i . J , . ' 

and his sister s son, btepnen ot Blois, were his 

nearest living relatives. The king finally succeeded in getting 

reluctant oaths from the English barons that they would 

elect Matilda as queen after his own death. But oaths were 

frail things even in such a religious age as the twelfth century. 

Accession of When it was noised about that Henry was no 

Stephen of more, Stephen hastened to England, and the 

barons were easily convinced that, since they had 
in a way been forced to swear allegiance to Matilda, their 
oaths were not binding (1135). 

Stephen ascended the throne and remained nominal king 
for nearly twenty years. As a ruler he had the best of inten- 
tions, but was utterly wanting in ability to carry them out. 
The anarchy His re ig n was an a S e °f unrelieved misery. 2 The 
of Stephen's constant warfare that the persistent Matilda kept 

up against the usurper gave the nobles an oppor- 
tunity to ignore and nullify all authority but their own. Each 
baron thus became a local tyrant and the sufferings of the 
native villeins were keen and continuous. The reign of Stephen 
illustrates the evils of feudalism when unchecked by higher 
authorities in the state. The barons also did their best to 
keep the civil strife aflame by aiding now the one, now the 
other of the two claimants. After Matilda's death her young 
Henry Plan- son Henry took up the fight. Stephen's spirit 
tagenet. was now broken. His only son and heir was dead 

and he gladly came to terms with his virile opponent. By 
the treaty of Wallingford it was agreed that Stephen should 
retain the crown till his death, but that Henry of Anjou should 
succeed him. A year later the young duke ascended the 
throne as Henry II (1154). 

During this period of misery there was one institution that 
gained steadily in strength and influence : the church suffered 

1 Innes, I, 72-76; Bates and Coman, 48-60 (Rossetti, The White Ship). 

2 Cheyney, No. 78; Innes, 79-83; Kendall, No. 18. 



THE PROBLEM OF THE SUCCESSION 



73 




74 



ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE 



little from the anarchy. The wave of emotion that called 
forth the crusades continued to swell with irresisti- 
ble force, though its military phase was no longer 
prominent. In the days of Stephen there had 
risen a marvelous man to intellectual leadership in 

the church, Saint Bernard, the abbot of Clairvaux, a French 



The growing 
strength of 
the church. 
St. Bernard. 




Kirkstall Abbey 
(Conjectural restoration.) 

monk of unexampled piety, whose intellectual vision embraced 
the entire church. Under his inspiration the reform work 
went on throughout all Europe. Even the anarchy of Stephen's 
reign helped to strengthen the English church by drawing the 
people closer to its protecting sanctuaries. From Stephen 
Henry II inherited two exasperating problems : how to deal 
with a stubborn and arrogant group of barons and, what was 
still more difficult, how to deal with a church that was growing 
in consciousness of its power and was determined to obtain 
authority as well as independence. 

64. Summary: the Norman Period. For nearly ninety 
years the dynasty of William the Conqueror ruled in England. 
During this period the English people had almost nothing to 



SUMMARY: THE NORMAN PERIOD 



75 



THE 

DOMINIONS OF WILLIAM I. 



Possessions of William I 




76 ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE 

say in the matter of their own government : Norman kings 
The benefits of and barons were in absolute control. In most 
Norman rule. re spects the Normans gave efficient government 
both in state and church ; but it was alien and sometimes 
unbearably harsh. The invaders reshaped English society 
by completing the process of feudalism, traces of which can be 
found in Anglo-Saxon times. As a necessary condition in a 
feudal state came serfdom, in this case under foreign landlords. 
The conquest also gave the country new leaders whose descend- 
ants in time would regard themselves as Englishmen ; it unified 
the people by crushing out provincial ambitions ; it hastened 
the introduction of the higher civilization of the Continent. 
The evils of But it also created conditions and problems for 
Norman rule. l a ter kings to wrestle with, which rendered social 
and constitutional progress exceedingly difficult. The rulers 
of England, however, soon took up the fight against these new 
forces and feudalism disappeared from English soil long before 
it began to decay on the Continent. 

REFERENCES 

William I. — Stenton, William the Conqueror. 

Norman feudalism. — Andrews, History of England, 72-78; Cheyney, 
Short History of England, 132-139; Fletcher, Introductory History of England, 
I, i, 99-107, Innes, History of England, 59-67; Oman, History of England, 
72-75; Walker, Essentials in English History, 95-102. 

The Normans and the church. — Bateson, Medieval England, 43-69; 
Cheyney, Short History of England, 1 15-124; Stenton, 382-406; Walker, 
109-112. 

The manorial system. — Bateson, 96-122; Fletcher, I, i, 93-99; Walker, 
102-108. 

The reign of Henry I. — Cross, History of England, 94-100; Fletcher, 
I, i, 118-125; Gardiner, Student's History of England, 122-131; Innes, 70-75; 
Ransome, Advanced History of England, 111-122; Tout, Advanced History of 
Great Britain, 102-110. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE CONFLICT WITH THE CHURCH AND THE 
BARONAGE 

65. Henry II: Character and Personality. 1154-1189. 

With the accession of Henry Plantagenet, a new type of king 
came to the throne of England. Henry II was primarily an 
administrator like his grandfather Henry I, but Henry n as 
he was far more energetic than his learned prede- kin s- 
cessor. He was neither a legislator like Alfred nor a conqueror 
like Cnut or William; still, in a sense he was both, for he 
added large areas to his dominions, and though he made no 
formal laws, he issued a number of important instructions, 
called assizes, to his judges and other officials which had the 
force of law and were of far-reaching consequence. 1 

But King Henry's chief business, as he understood it, was 
to govern, and he put all his restless energies into the task. 
The social side of kingship, the festivities, the Personality of 
gorgeous robes, the stiff ceremonial of the palace, Henf y n - 
the artificial dignity of monarchy, possessed little interest for 
him. He was plain in person and manners, undignified in 
action and appearance, and is described as a short, rather 
stout man "of ruddy complexion, with a long round head, pier- 
cing blue-gray eyes, fierce and glowing red in anger, with a 
fiery face and a harsh voice." 2 But what impressed his con- 
temporaries more than anything else was his restless activity 
and unusual capacity for work. 

66. The Angevin Empire. The inheritance that came to 
the young prince was large enough to tax the energies of 
an even more strenuous monarch than Henry Plantagenet. 

1 Masterman, 35-37. 

2 Cheyney, No. 88 (Giraldus) ; Kendall, No. 19; Tuell and Hatch, No. 10; these 
two are from Peter of Blois. 

77 



78 THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE 

Through his mother he inherited the duchy of Normandy. 
Henry's in- At the death of his father he became count of 
heritance. Anjou and Maine. As a young man of nineteen he 

married Eleanor, the divorced wife of the French king, who 
Eleanor and possessed in her own right the extensive duchy of 
Aquitaine. Aquitaine. The western half of France was thus 

gathered up in the hands of the young duke. For all these 
lands he did homage to the king of France as overlord; but 
the treaty of Wallingford gave promise of a kingdom over 
which Henry would have full, independent, sovereign rights. 
Henry IPs Eighteen years after his accession in England he 
position in extended his authority to Ireland, though for a 

long time the rights of the English crown on that\ 
island were scarcely more than nominal. Over Wales and 
Scotland he claimed the rights of overlordship. Though he 
did not exercise the same degree of authority in all his dominions, 
the sum of his powers was extraordinary for the time. In 
western Europe he had only one rival, the emperor. Frederick 
His position Barbarossa, who wore the imperial crown in 
in Europe. Henry's day, was a ruler of dignity and ability; 
but Henry of England controlled the resources of his dominions 
far more completely than the emperor ever could. 

67. The English Policy of Henry II. 1 In statesmanship 
Henry Plantagenet was an opportunist. His plans did not 
look far forward; they concerned the problems that lay nearest. 
Methods and His methods, though often violent and unlovely, 
plans. were usually effective. It may be that he had no 

conscious aims and policies during the earlier years of his 
reign; but circumstances very soon forced upon him a course 
of action that brought him into conflict with the two most 
powerful social forces of the time, the church and the baronage. 
In neither conflict was he wholly successful : in his fight with 
the church he failed to gain all his ends; but he began a struggle 
that lasted through centuries. The important fact is that in 
his reign monarchy took the offensive. 
1 Cheyney, No. 89. 



THE ENGLISH POLICY OF HENRY II 



79 




8o 



THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE 



For some years Henry's energies were spent chiefly in restor- 
ing order and government in England. The unlicensed castles 
Restoration that the turbulent nobles had built during the 
of order. anarchy of Stephen's reign (1118 is the number 

given) were dismantled. The barons were forced to desist 
from tyranny and were reduced to obedience. In this work 
of organizing and repairing, the king was ably assisted by 
Thomas Becket, a young Norman of a tradesman's family, 
whom he had made his chancellor. 1 




Canterbury Cathedral 

The building was begun by the Normans toward the close of the eleventh century; 
changes and additions were made from time to time for several hundred years. 



68. Thomas Becket: Chancellor and Archbishop. The 

chancellor's office was the highest in the land on the secular 
Becket as side ; next to the archbishop of Canterbury, the 

chancellor. chancellor was the most prominent subject in the 
realm. Originally the king's private secretary and chief of 
the secretarial bureau where all the state documents were 

1 Cheyney, No. 92; Kendall, No. 20. 



THE PROBLEM OF CRIMINOUS CLERKS 81 

prepared and preserved, he had risen to the position of chief 
adviser and minister to the king. The office has continued to 
our own day, and the Lord High Chancellor is still a prominent 
member of the English government, though his most important 
duties have passed to other officials. 

After Becket had served the king faithfully and efficiently 
for seven years, the primacy of the English church became 
vacant, and the chancellor was promoted to this Bec ket ap- 
high office. It was a most unusual appointment, P™£ ed arch " 
as Becket was only nominally a churchman; he 
had, indeed, been ordained a deacon in the church, but he was 
not 'famous for piety or religious interests. It is said that 
he accepted the appointment with great reluctance, as he knew 
that his new office would make a complete change in his mode 
of life and in his relations with the king. Henry had hoped 
for an archbishop of the Lanfranc type, one who would govern 
the church in the interests of monarchy. But Becket chose 
to pattern his life after that of Saint Anselm, though he failed 
to imitate his virtues of long-suffering and patience; for 
Thomas Becket was a militant as well as a devoted servant 
and ruler of the church. 

69. The Problem of Criminous Clerks. A few months after 
his consecration, the new archbishop clashed seriously with the 
king on the subject of court jurisdictions. It will be remem- 
bered that William the Conqueror a hundred years before had 
permitted the church to have its own courts in which every 
matter that concerned churchmen or church property had to 
be tried. 1 The term "clerk," or churchman, had by this time 
come to have a wide significance. In the medieval church 
there were seven classes or orders of men who were set apart 
with elaborate ceremonies for the labors and service of the 
sanctuaries. These were in two groups, major and minor 
orders : the major orders comprised bishops, priests, HoJy orders 
and deacons, all of whom were competent to carry 
out the ordinary church services; those in minor orders in- 

1 Review sec. 55. 



82 THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE 

eluded such as were set apart for certain services about the 
church or during the church service, such as lighting the candles, 
reading portions of the service, and the like ; they could assist 
at the holy services, but could not perform them. There were 
also a number of men who were set apart for service in the 
church, but had not been assigned to any particular "order" 
or class of duties. These had merely taken the tonsure, which 
was the initial act in ordination. While the tonsure did not 
Benefit of admit the candidate to any one of the seven 

clergy. "holy orders," it made him a churchman and 

conferred on him the privilege of " benefit of clergy," which 
was the technical term for the right to trial in the courts of 
the church. 

In the middle ages the church had a complete monopoly of 
education : practically all the schools of the earlier centuries 
The church were connected with monasteries or important 
and education, churches. During the age of the earlier Angevins, 
new institutions called universities were being organized. 
Like the earlier schools, the universities were regarded as 
ecclesiastical foundations; their teachers and graduates were 
churchmen and the students were also classed with the clergy. 
As all clerks could read, it came to be held that all who could 
read must be clerks and therefore entitled to benefit of clergy. 

70. The Constitutions of Clarendon. 1 There were two 
reasons why the activities of the church courts were distaste- 
H II and ^ to Henry II : for one thing they deprived the 
the church crown of considerable revenue in the form of fines, 
courts. an( ^ w h at was W orse, these courts were not effi- 

cient in dealing with crimes. For the king discovered that 
not all who belonged to the tonsured host were of a saintly 
character. He learned that clerks had been accused of vulgar 
and serious crimes, even of murder. This did not surprise 
the king : what scandalized him was the inadequate punish- 
ment that was meted out to such offenders in the church courts. 
The church was not permitted to deprive any one of life or 

1 Gardiner, 143-145. 



THE QUARREL WITH THOMAS BECKET 83 

limb, nor did it care to spend its money in building prisons : 
various forms of penance, a pilgrimage to some distant shrine, 
or enforced residence in some monastery might serve as a 
penalty. The kingly spirit of Henry II, which was by instinct 
orderly, revolted against such a system. 

In 1 1 64 the king called his magnates together at Clarendon, 1 
a royal hunting park in Wiltshire, and proposed a plan for the 
reform of judicial procedure in such cases. A Constitutions 
document known as the Constitutions of Clarendon of claf endon. 
was drawn up, which was said to contain the old established 
customs that should be followed in cases of accused clerks. 
These constitutions, however, were not all ancient. It was 
the king's plan to have all who were charged with crimes 
brought into the secular courts. If the accused could prove 
that he was a clerk, he should then be sent to the church au- 
thorities for trial. If convicted in the church court, he was 
to be degraded from his church office and sent back to the secu- 
lar court to receive his sentence. 

71. The Quarrel with Thomas Becket. Becket fought 

violently against the adoption of the constitutions, but he 

finally accepted them, with the intention, as he 

• it • r 1 -i o T.T 1 Becket's oppo- 

said, 01 atoning lor the sin later on.- Not long s ition to 

afterwards he fled the kingdom for France, where the " con - 

., 1 1 . ir stitutions." 

he sought out another exile, the pope himself, 

who had been driven from his see by the emperor. It was 

embarrassing for the pope to be on hostile terms with the 

two chief rulers of Christian Europe ; but he His flight 

regarded Becket's cause the cause of the larger t0 France - 

church, and so far as he was able, he supported the fugitive 

archbishop. 

The quarrel that began in this way continued for six years. 3 
In the end an agreement was reached, and Becket His return and 
returned to spend the last few weeks of his life at his martyrdom, 
cathedral. Now he discovered that his office had suffered 

1 Masterman, 38. 3 Gardiner, 145-146, 149-151. 

2 Cheyney, pp. 147-148. 



84 



THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE 



another insult : in his absence Henry had had his eldest son 
and heir crowned king by the archbishop of York. In his 
anger Becket began to excommunicate his enemies without 
much discrimination. Even the bishops who had assisted at 
the hapless coronation 

were placed under the f~ £v fijTfbo }X\> lUJtt C| 3g ffllfU ^ 
curse ; and the state 
of the English church 
was worse than ever. 
When the king, who 
was in France at the 
time, heard of the 
archbishop's behavior 
at Canterbury, he was 
furious. Four of his 
knights who believed 
that Henry had ex- 
pressed a desire for 
Becket's death crossed 
the Channel and slew 
the stout-hearted 
bishop in his own ca- 
thedral. 1 Henry was 
appalled at the deed, 2 
but the murderers 
were apparently never 
punished. 

The result of Beck- 
et's murder was that 
Henry was halted in 
his efforts to extend 

Failure of nis j uclicial system to the clerical orders. Though 

Henry's anti- the " Constitutions " were never formally with- 
clericai plans. drawn ^ n0 attempt was made to enforce those 
that dealt with the subject of accused clerks. The king did 

i Inncs, I, 89-94; Cheyney, No. 96; separate accounts. 2 Cheyney, No. 97. 




The Murder of Becket 
From a manuscript of the thirteenth century. 



THE ANNEXATION OF IRELAND 85 

succeed, however, in limiting the power of the church courts 
to try civil cases ; most of the cases involving property rights 
were kept in the secular courts. But for more than three cen- 
turies longer, the educated classes continued to enjoy benefit 
of clergy. In time, however, as the knowledge of letters came 
to be a more common accomplishment, the abuse of this privi- 
lege became intolerable and was limited by a parliamentary 




The Martyr's Corner, Canterbury Cathedral 

In this part of the church Becket was slain. From a photograph by 
W. H. Dudley. 

act. At the same time, the churchmen felt that Becket had 
taken an extreme position, and later archbishops followed a 
more moderate course. But the martyred archbishop was im- 
mediately rewarded with a place in the calendar of saints; the 
shrine of Saint Thomas at Canterbury became one of the most 
important in the kingdom. 

72. The Annexation of Ireland. Becket was stricken down 
in December, 11 70, just before the close of the year. Some 
months later Henry was preparing an expedition 
for the conquest of Ireland. In the twelfth cen- 
tury the English people had very little accurate knowledge 



86 THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE 

of Irish conditions; the Green Isle was widely famous, how- 
ever, for its mild and pleasant climate and its fertile soil. A 
historian of the period informs us that Ireland lacked only 
one thing to make it the most attractive country in the world : 
there were no grapes on the island. 1 Among the more culti- 
vated Englishmen Ireland was known for its many saints, for 
its beautiful books, and for the untamed freedom of its people. 
Many strange tales were current of marvels that were believed 
I land rant- to ex * st * n distant parts of the 'island. 2 Henry II 
ed to Henry II had conceived a plan for the annexation of this 
by the Pope. d es i ra ble country soon after his accession; and 
the reigning pope, Hadrian IV, who was an Englishman, was 
induced, as ruler of all the islands of the sea, to add the Emerald 
Isle to the domain of Henry II. At the time, however, the 
king was too busy with other matters to undertake the project; 
but ten years later (1166) an opportunity was offered that 
Henry did not entirely permit to pass. An Irish chief from the 
Dublin country had been sent into well-deserved exile by the 
high-king of Ireland and came to seek aid at Henry's court. 
This was at the time of the Becket controversy and the king 
felt that it would be unwise to leave his French possessions 
just then, as his old enemy and overlord, who was Becket's 
host, was eagerly awaiting an opportunity to relieve his vassal 
of his lands in France. 

Henry, however, permitted the Irish exile to enlist support 
among the Norman-English barons, and several of these 
crossed over from Pembroke in Wales to southeastern Ireland 
and seized considerable territories along the eastern coast. 
The chief of these was Richard of Clare, earl of Pembroke, 
Strongbow in commonly known as Strongbow. Richard Strong- 
Ireland. ] D0W was preparing to join the earlier adventurers 
during the same month that saw the reconciliation of the 
king and the archbishop. At first he had some success, but 
soon troubles thickened around him, and he was compelled 
to return to England to seek assistance from King Henry. 

1 Innes, I, 99-101. 2 Cheyney, No. 101. 



THE ANNEXATION OF IRELAND 



87 




88 THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE 

The king had already planned an expedition to Ireland. 

Two motives were apparent : first, the fear that Strongbow 

and his wild Norman associates might win a 

expedition to kingdom for themselves in Ireland ; second, the 

Ireland. hope that by forcing the Irish church into more 

1171-1172. F , , . . , -r. 

complete submission to the Roman see he might 
win the pope's gratitude and succeed in securing more favor- 
able terms when the time should come for a formal reconcilia- 
tion with the head of Christendom. Henry II was in Ireland 
during the autumn and winter of 1171 and 11 72. He did not 
attempt a complete conquest; the native high-king remained 
in his strongholds in the southwest and did not come in to 
make submission. But a large part of the eastern shore-land 
was actually secured. 1 A colony was founded in Dublin, 
and garrisons were placed in that city and in Wexford and 
Waterford. A justiciar was appointed to represent the king 
in his absence; the office still exists, though it has long been 
known by the later title of lord lieutenant. 

Henry II also convened the bishops of the Irish church into 
a great council at famed Cashel, where the authority of the 
Church council English king was formally recognized. In return 
at Cashel. f or tn j s recognition, Henry II helped the prelates 
to reform the Irish church and secure the obedience of the 
lower clergy. Three years later a treaty was made with the 
high king, according to which he acknowledged the suzerainty 
of Henry II and was in turn recognized by the English king 
as ruler of all Ireland except such parts of the eastern coast 
as were in the hands of the Norman-Welsh adventurers. Im- 
Conferenceof mediately after his return from Ireland (May, 
Avranches. 1 1 72), Henry had a conference with the papal 
legates in the Norman city of Avranches, and 
made peace with Holy Church. 

73. The Judicial System of Henry's Reign. The fear of 
France, the Irish problem, and the quarrel with the church 
did not consume all the energies of the strenuous monarch. 

1 Innes, I, 101-102. 



THE ITINERANT JUSTICES 89 

The same period, 11 66-1 172, saw certain important develop- 
ments in the English government. When Henry came to 
England he found a half developed form of central administra- 
tion centering about the curia regis. 1 This institution, it 
will be remembered, was created in the Norman period, but 
it found its greatest development under the new Angevin 
dynasty. As in the days of Henry I it did work chiefly of 
two sorts: sometimes it sat as a court of justice; sometimes 
as a committee to consider matters of finance, and when acting 
as such it was called the exchequer. In the Local and 
counties there still existed the old shire courts, in central gov- 
which the chief men of the shire met under the 
presidency of the sheriff to try criminals and settle disputes. 
Between these two bodies, the ancient shire court and the 
newer curia regis, King Henry found no connecting link except 
the sheriff who twice a year came up to the exchequer to render 
account for the royal revenues due from his shire. 

74. The Itinerant Justices. 2 Henry II supplemented this 
system with a group of itinerant justices who went from the 
curia regis into the various counties and tried cases in which 
the king might be interested. It seems that such delegates 
had been sent out earlier, and that Henry conse- New - circuit 
quently did not originate the system; but he courts" and 
improved and extended it and gave it a definite 
place in the government. In his days England was divided 
into districts or circuits with a definite number of judges for 
each. In this way the authority of the central administration 
was extended to all the sections of the kingdom. 

The business transacted at the county court by these itiner- 
ant justices was not extensive at first, but it soon increased in 
amount. Originally the judges were probably sent out to 
investigate matters that related to the royal revenue, but as 
they were men learned in the law, they were soon called upon 
to settle a great variety of disputes. However, to investigate 
and pass upon controversies that were purely local, these 

1 Review sec. 50. 2 Masterman, 39-40. 



go THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE 

judges were scarcely competent for want of information. King 
Henry was a man with a practical turn of mind; and he in- 
structed his judges to make inquiries among the chief men 
of the localities, and in this way get what information the 
community might possess. These and other instructions he 
Henry's embodied in a series of documents called "as- 



of Clarendon and the Assize of Northampton, which deal with 
procedure and punishment in criminal trials. 

75. The Origin of the English Jury. 2 Out of this inquiry 
by the itinerant justices developed the English jury system, 
The jury the origin of which may be regarded as the greatest 

system. achievement of Henry's reign. Neither the method 

nor the idea upon which it was based was original with Henry 
II ; but it was he who first made extensive use of the method 
in the law courts and made the jury a necessary part of the 
judicial system. Two forms of the jury are used in the courts 
of the present day : the grand jury and the petit, or trial, jury. 
The grand jury investigates charges against accused or sus- 
pected persons to determine whether they shall be held for 
trial or not : it is this jury that indicts or accuses. The actual 
trial is held before a body of twelve men called the petit 
jury. 

Henry II introduced . the grand jury into criminal court 
procedure; but the petit jury for the trial of crimes was not 
fully developed until two or three generations later in the 
thirteenth century. In certain forms of civil cases, however, 
the king ordered that his judges should accept the award 
of a jury chosen from among the best men of the hundred, 
usually twelve in number. By what is known 

The Grand , J „ , . . ,,. , ,1 

Assize: trial as the Grand Assize the king ordered that in the 
jury in certain king's court all disputes concerning the title of 

civil cases. . 

land should be tried by a jury if the defendant so 
desired it, as the common method of determining ownership, 

1 Cheyney, No. oo. 

2 Masterman, 42-44; Gardiner, 146-148. 



REVIVAL OF THE ENGLISH MILITIA 91 

the duel, or wager of battle, seemed grossly unfair to the weaker 
side. But no less ridiculous was the ordeal, 1 which for some 
time continued to be employed to determine actual guilt or 
innocence in criminal trials. Henry was skeptical about the 
appeal to God, and ordained that notorious criminals should 
be banished from the realm even though they were cleared by 
the ordeal. When in the early part of the thirteenth century 
the church forbade the priests to participate in the ordeal, 
that form of trial became impossible and a new method was 
needed. The question of determining guilt came sometimes 
to be left to the grand jury of the hundred to which Trial jury in 
the case belonged; but more often representatives criminal cases, 
to the number of twelve were chosen from the various grand 
juries and the case submitted to this new body. Out of this 
body of twelve the modern petit jury was developed. 

76. Revival of the English Militia. Parallel to these judicial 
reforms went certain important financial improvements. 
After a hundred years of experience with feudalism the states- 
men of England saw clearly that the barons could not be 
depended upon to supply the necessary forces for offensive 
warfare. It had already been a problem how long a vassal 
was obliged to serve in the host, though forty weakness f 
days appears to have been the rule, and also the feudal 
whether he could be forced to serve in warfare upon 
foreign soil. Henry had ambitions to extend his territories 
in southern' France; but the English barons disliked to serve 
in such distant fields. The king therefore permitted them to 
pay money as a part of the services due; this was known as 
scutage or shield money. Although, in assessing this tax, 
the king had no intention to overthrow or even weaken the 
old system, the levy was important as marking the beginning 
of feudal decline; for with the money the king hired mercenary 
soldiers and the feudal knight gradually ceased to be a necessity 
in warfare. 

Toward the close of his reign Henry went a step further: 

i Review sec. 31. 



92 THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE 

he issued the Assize of Arms, 1 which ordained that certain 
The Assize classes among the commoners were to provide 
of Arms. themselves with the most necessary armor and 

weapons and be ready for military service. In a way this 
was a revival of the Anglo-Saxon militia. It was not an 
elaborate force that was thus provided, but the new militia 
might prove useful as an army of defense ; and the act shows 
clearly the great king's distrust of the feudal levies as a reliable 
force in times of trouble. 

77. Financial System of Henry II. In the central govern- 
ment the reign of Henry II saw no great innovations. The 
machinery of the exchequer was not materially changed, but 
its efficiency was highly improved. The royal officials watched 
carefully over every source of royal income and the amounts 
collected steadily increased. At the same time the revenues 
from the expansion of the king's judicial system were not 
increased so much as might be expected : in the case of serious 
crimes fines gave place to other and more severe penalties, while 
for less serious offenses the fines were reduced. Since the 
New forms days of the Danegeld, the English people had 
of taxation. become accustomed to occasional taxation on 
land ; in the reign of Henry II a faint beginning was made 
with taxation on movables, or personal property, the proceeds 
from which were to be used to promote the crusading move- 
ments of the time, in which Henry strove to show a respectable 
interest. 

78. Henry IPs Last Years and Death. The last few years 
of the great king's life were a period of much bitterness. Queen 
Eleanor had borne him several sons whom she had deliberately 
trained to oppose their father. The older two died before the 
The sons of king, but Richard and John remained to make 
Henry II. trouble. The new king of France, the able and 
crafty Philip Augustus, also found it expedient for his many 
and devious purposes to stir up the ambitions of the two young 
princes who were anxiously waiting to come into their inheri- 

1 Cheyney, No. qi. 



RICHARD I 



93 



tance. In 1188, King Philip and these two Angevin princes 
formed an alliance and made common war on the broken-down 
monarch. Henry felt that his day was past, and finally acceded 
to all the demands of his undutiful sons. He even promised 
to forgive all his enemies on condition that he was furnished 
with a complete list of the conspirators to whom he was ex- 
pected to extend his clemency. The request was Death of the 
considered reasonable and the list was produced; king - 1189 - 
but when Henry saw the name of his beloved son John among 
the rebels, his heart broke. Two days later he died l and his 
son Richard succeeded to all the Angevin dominions. 2 

79. Richard I. Richard the Lion-heart was a unique 
figure, unlike any other English king before him. Least of all 
did he resemble his father, for in personal appearance Richard 
was impressive and kinglike. He is described p ersona ii ty 
as " lofty in stature, of a shapely build, with hair and character 
half-way between red and yellow. His limbs ofRichardL 
were straight and flexible, his arms somewhat long, and for 
this very reason better fitted than those of most folk to draw 
or wield the sword." 3 In an age that admired chivalry, a 
king of Richard's type was sure to win popularity; for the 

1 Cheyney, No. 103. 

2 The earlier Angevin (Plantagenet) kings, 1 154-1399. 

Henry II, 1154-1189 



Henry, died 1183 Richard I Geoffrey, died 1186 John 

1189-1199 I 1199-1216 

Arthur, died 1203 

Henry III 
1216-1272 

I 
Edward I 
1272-1307 

I 
Edward II 
1307-1327 
I 
Edward III 
1327-1377 
I 
Edward the Black Prince, 
died 1376 
I 
Richard II 
I377-I399 
3 Cheyney, No. 104. 



94 



THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE 



king was a mighty warrior and an excellent knight. As a 
general he was not wholly successful, though he was skillful in 
siegecraft and had thoroughly mastered the art of fortification. 
King Richard was merely a royal adventurer whose joys were 
sought and found in battle and tournament; as a king he was 
expensive and of little worth. Only twice during the ten 




Ceremony of Conferring Knighthood 
From a medieval manuscript. 



years of his reign did he appear in England, and then for 
a few weeks or months only. The importance of Richard's 
reign for English history lies chiefly in the fact that by his 
financial exactions and his neglect of the kingdom, he sowed 
widely the seeds of discontent and rebellion which brought 
forth a harvest of revenge in the reign of his successor John. 

80. The Third Crusade. 1 For a king who wished to dis- 
tinguish himself in personal warfare, a magnificent opportunity 
appeared at the very outset of the new reign. It was now 
almost a century since the great wave of religious emotion that 
culminated in the First Crusade had swept over the West. 
The Third Now for the third time the sovereign of the church 
Crusade. called all Christendom to arms, this time against 

the mighty Saladin, Mohammedan sultan of Egypt and Syria. 

1 Gardiner, 1 61-162 



RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES 



95 



Among the princes who responded were Richard I and his 
former ally in sinful rebellion, Philip Augustus of France. 
Preparations were made on a vast scale, and in 1191 the allied 
monarchs joined the crusading host in the Holy Land. 

During the two years that Richard spent in the Mediterranean 
lands, he maintained his high reputation as a knight; l but 
by his overbearing temper, his obstinate refusal Richard in 
to be guided by others, and his insistence on the 0rient - 
leadership, he did much to weaken the cause that he defended 
so brilliantly on the battlefield. 2 After a time the great 
crusading army was completely disrupted. Philip Augustus 
returned to France in disgust. Under the circumstances it 
was impossible to regain Jerusalem, and all that Richard secured 
was a truce and security for the pilgrims who might wish to 
visit the holy places. 

But far more important to the English people was a terrible 
humiliation that befell their king on his return from the Orient. 
Fearing that Philip Augustus might have set a Richardis 
trap for him, he did not return by the usual route, imprisoned in 
but sailed up the Adriatic Sea, from the head of erman y- 
which he planned a journey overland in disguise. But he was 
recognized and seized 3 while passing through Austria and 
was handed over by the duke of Austria to the 

. 1193. 

emperor, who held him for the huge ransom of 

100,000 marks, a sum equal to several million dollars in present 
day values. The nation had contributed heavily to the prepar- 
ations for the expedition, and it was with difficulty that the 
ransom was raised. It took almost the entire revenue of the 
English government for two years to purchase the liberty of 
the reckless king. 

81. Results of the Crusades. The results of the crusades 
were not according to expectations : in their chief purpose, 
the rescue of the Holy Land, they were failures in the end. 
There were, however, certain important results of the sort that 

1 Cheyney, No. 107. 2 Innes, I, 103-105. 

3 Bates and Coman, 67-69 (Lament attributed to Richard). 



g6 THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE 

come from travel rather than from righting. With the rest of 
Civilizing in- Europe, England came into contact with two forms 
fluence of the of civilization with which the West had hitherto 

been almost wholly unacquainted : the Byzantine 
and the Saracen. With the Greek culture of the Byzantine 
Empire the crusaders came into contact at various points, 
notably at Constantinople, where they saw with amazement a 
spacious city with paved and lighted streets, splendid public 
buildings, and a marvelous series of walls. With Saracen civi- 
lization the crusaders became acquainted in the Orient and on 
the island of Sicily, which may be regarded as a Moorish out- 
post. It is doubtless true that the knowledge of Eastern ways 
and methods had been filtering into the West for many cen- 
turies past ; but it seems clear that the crusades hastened the 
process of assimilation very materially. 

82. The Government of Hubert Walter. The five years 
that followed Richard's return from the Holy Land he spent 
Richard and across the Channel fighting Philip Augustus who 
Philip Augus- was striving to reduce the Angevin possessions in 

France. Philip Augustus was a great statesman 
and a resourceful, though unscrupulous, ruler. His ambition 
was to reorganize France and to strengthen the royal power. 
To accomplish this it was clear that he had to reduce the power 
of his great vassals, especially the Angevins, who could bring 
against him not only French but English forces. Instead of 
having Richard as duke or count of Normandy, Anjou, Aqui- 
taine, and the rest, Philip wished to get the Angevin counties 
and duchies for himself and to make himself the duke or the 
count. 

In England the government was carried on by Hubert Walter, 
the archbishop of Canterbury, a statesman who had been 
Hubert trained in the curia regis of Henry II. Hubert 

Walter. Walter was not a great administrator, but he was 

faithful, he had the king's confidence, and he understood the 
workings and possibilities of the governmental machinery that 
Henry II had perfected. During the French war Richard 



KING JOHN: THE LOSS OF NORMANDY 97 

turned aside to punish a humble viscount who had found a 
treasure and refused to surrender it to the king. In Death of Rich- 
an attack on the viscount's castle he was wounded ard L 1199< 
and died soon afterwards. 1 

83. King John: the Loss of Normandy. His successor on 
the throne was his younger brother John, a prince of some 
ability, but sadly lacking on the moral side of 
his character. Of all the English kings, John was 
the meanest and the most thoroughly despised. But the very 
wickedness of John proved an advantage in the end : it created 
conditions that separated England from the Norman duchy 
and brought forth the solemn announcement of the Great 
Charter that the king is below the law. 

The loss of Normandy came as a result, not of warfare but 
of a breach of feudal law. In the first year of his reign John 
put away his wife Isabella, the heiress of Glouces- John's second 
ter, and the next year he married another Isabella, marria ge. 
the daughter of a French count in the Loire country. The 
new queen was only twelve or at most thirteen years of age, 
but had already been betrothed to a neighboring nobleman, 
when temptation came to her in the form of the English crown. 
The disappointed bridegroom was Hugh of Lusignan, one of 
John's French vassals ; in his anger Hugh appealed to King 
John's overlord, King Philip of France. The wily king gladly 
seized the opportunity to make trouble for his English vassal, 
and ordered John to appear before a feudal court to make 
answer to the charge of bad faith and dishonorable treatment 
of a vassal. The English king, knowing that he had violated 
the law as charged, failed to appear and lost his Loss of the 
case by default. Philip Augustus decreed that Norman 
John should forfeit his French possessions north 
of the Loire River, and prepared to carry out his decision. 
An army was sent into Normandy and after two years of 
warfare the duchy on the Channel with neighboring regions to 
the southward became the immediate possessions of the French 

1 Gardiner, 165. 



98 THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE 

king: Philip Augustus succeeded John as lord of these terri- 
tories. 

To the Angevin dynasty the loss of Normandy, Anjou, and 
Touraine was a grievous blow ; for with these possessions went 
large annual revenues from ducal estates and feudal rights. 

To the English nation, however, the separation was 
Results of the . ° r . ■ 

separation of a decided advantage. A century earlier it had 

England from k een f e j t t h at England and Normandy should by 
Normandy. , 

all means continue under a common ruler, as many 

of the barons held lands on both sides of the Channel. But 
during the twelfth century the situation changed : many- 
families divided their possessions, so that in John's day there 
were but few barons who held fiefs both in England and on 
the Continent. The possession of Normandy was of no ad- 
vantage to England except to a slight extent commercially; 
it took too much of the king's time and of the energies of the 
nation. The French territories belonged to the English king 
but not to the kingdom; still, the English were continuously 
called upon to defend these foreign possessions of the dynasty. 
With fewer outlying territories the policies of the English king 
would necessarily become more national, more English. 

84. The Death of Hubert Walter : the Canterbury Election. 
Normandy finally passed into Philip's hands in 1204. John, 
though he did little to thwart the plans of his rival, did not 
give up hopes of regaining all that he had lost. There still 
remained to the Angevin family the large duchy of Aquitaine, 
which had come to the dynasty with Queen Eleanor. The 
Gascons of southwestern France, who were enjoying a profitable 
wine trade with England, were loyal to John; and with Aqui- 
taine as a base from which to operate, the English king planned 
to invade and reconquer the territories north of the Loire. 
He was planning to take an English army into France, when 
Death of ^ e became involved in a new quarrel which engaged 

Hubert his attention for the next eight years. In 1205 

Walter. 1205. Hubert W alter, the statesman-bishop who ruled 
the see of Canterbury, died, and the primacy was vacant. 



THE DEATH OF HUBERT WALTER 99 

Hubert Walter had not been an aggressive prelate, but he was 

no blind tool; and the king had determined that the next 

archbishop should be a more pliant personality. 

In the early days of the church, the bishop's office was filled 

by election in which the people and the clergy of the diocese 

took part. But whatever the theory of elections 

. ...... , Influence of 

may have been, in practice the choice ultimately the king at 

fell to the kings or princes most interested. 1 Even elec *ions m 
K i ! 1 1 , . the church, 

the development of cathedral chapters as electing 

bodies did not secure freedom from governmental interference, 

as by the compromise of 1106 the king was permitted to be 

present or to be represented at the elections. In the case of 

Canterbury, which was a monastic chapter, the right of the 

king to control the election was established by a long series of 

precedents. 

While the formal. election was the function of the Canterbury 

monks, they could scarcely claim the right of absolute choice, 

as there were other clerical bodies that had a right „ . . 

. r Parties inter- 

to be consulted. The priests of the diocese of ested in the 

Canterbury were interested because the archbishop Canterbury 

J 1-1 election. 

was their bishop; the bishops of the province, be- 
cause he was their archbishop; the prelates of the entire king- 
dom, because he was the primate of the English church. The 
king's interest lay in the fact that the primate's office was 
second only to his own; and he naturally wished to control 
the choice. 

The older monks realized the importance of these facts and 
wished to consult the various interests; but the younger 
brothers were full of the newer pretensions to clerical inde- 
pendence and proceeded to hold an election. The first 
Their choice was one Reginald, an official of the Canterbury 
monastery, a man who was clearly unfit for the 
exalted office. But the archbishop elect was immediately 
dispatched to Rome to get the pallium, the symbol of his 
office which the pope alone could confer and without which 

1 Review sec. 60. 



loo THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE 

he could not execute the functions of his office. When John 
learned of Reginald's journey, he was furious. His own candi- 
The second ^ate was J onn de Gray, the bishop of Norwich, 
Canterbury one of the king's own creatures who was as thor- 
oughly unsuited to the dignity as the insignificant 
Reginald. Pressure was brought to bear, and the older monks, 
obedient to the royal will, admitted the bishops to their con- 
clave and elected John de Gray. 

85. The Election of Stephen Langton. There now appeared 
at Rome two candidates both bearing credentials from the 
chapter at Canterbury, and the papal authorities were naturally 
much perplexed. The imperious Innocent III was pope at 
the time; he had a strong, keen mind and soon realized that 
both elections were irregular and both candidates unfit : and 
after due deliberation he determined to reject both. Repre- 
sentatives of all the interests concerned were summoned to 
Rome to hold a new election. Firmly convinced that his 
Election of candidate would be successful, John consented 
Stephen Lang- to this arrangement. But Innocent had other 

plans : Stephen Langton, an English cardinal who 
had been a student friend of the pope at the university of 
Paris, was chosen and promptly invested with the office. 1 

These proceedings were at best unusual, perhaps they were 
contrary to the canon law; but the times looked favorably on 
papal absolutism, and the monks accepted the decision. More- 
over, the choice was no doubt the best that could have been 
Character of made. Archbishop Langton was a native English- 
Langton. man an( ] a man f learning, ability, and strength 

of purpose. But never before in the history of the English 
church had the primacy been filled in the teeth of royal opposi- 
tion. 

86. The Quarrel with Innocent III. The wrath of King 
John was boundless. He refused to accept the new archbishop, 
forbade the bishops to obey him, and proceeded to punish the 
monks of Canterbury, whose stubborn behavior had precipi- 

1 Gardiner, 176-177. 



THE QUARREL WITH INNOCENT III 



IOI 



tated the conflict. Innocent in his turn laid an interdict on 
the English nation, an act that paralyzed the Eng- The interdict, 
lish church by forbidding all but the most neces- 12 <>8 1213. 
sary rites and services. 1 The church bells were silenced; 



iiiW-mffl'-*' 7 *-— :&..-.—•« 



a>L>jfi Auutuiik eyonavi* fcanorq l)amniu m)iy*r iu«<) 



! <* •: c w . " 






f Sill •*"-- /^ • L* -i f 

iMt&, 





Papal Bull of Alexander III 
A "bull" derives its name from the leaden seal (bulla) that is appended to it. 

the church holidays passed without celebration; the church 
buildings were closed; it seemed as if the nation had been 
handed over to the evil powers. In an age that invested the 
externals of worship and the sacramental acts with such great 

1 Cheyney, No. 108; Innes, I, 106-109; two different accounts. 



102 THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE 

importance, the discontinuance of church services meant priva- 
tion and sorrow and fear. King John met the interdict by 
Excommunica- seizm g a lar g e P art of tne ecclesiastical properties, 
tion of King After a year and a half of the interdict, the pope 
resorted to excommunication : King John was 
solemnly placed outside the pale of the church, and his sub- 
jects were forbidden to associate with him or to give him as- 
sistance in any way. For more than four years England was 
governed by a king who was under the ecclesiastical curse. 

The papal sentence awakened all the terrible energies of the 
sluggish king. He crushed out opposition wherever it was 
evident and prevented serious defections by securing hostages 
from the principal baronial families. It seems that the king 
inspired greater terror than the papal decree. Many English- 
men also supported him from a feeling that the papal court 
had not acted with due regard for the honor of England. It 
appeared that the papal weapons were making but slight 
impression. As a final resort Innocent turned to Philip Augus- 
tus and sought to enlist his services in an effort to carry out a 
sentence of deposition with which he had threatened King 

John. The English king was preparing to meet 
King John's . . . . - 

submission to any invader ; but his suspicious soul distrusted 

the pope. every one, and he suddenly decided to humble 

himself and make peace with the church. In the 
presence of the papal legate he surrendered his kingdom to the 
church and received it back as a fief from the Holy See on con- 
dition that a yearly tribute of iooo marks (700 for England and 
300 for Ireland) should be paid into the papal treasury. 1 This 
tribute was a legal charge on England for a century and a half, 
and was paid during the greater part of that period. It was 
finally abolished by act of parliament in 1366. 

87. The Coalition against France. The English leaders 
appear to have offered no protest against this amazing bargain. 
In an age when almost every man of importance was some- 
body's vassal, arrangements of this sort did not outrage national 

1 Innes, I, 109-116. 



THE QUARREL WITH THE BARONS 103 

feeling as they would to-day; and there were several instances 
in the pontificate of Innocent III of some such submission to 
the Roman see. Perhaps the English barons hoped that peace 
with the church would also mean peace with France; but if 
they did they were disappointed : both John and Philip were 
eager for war. An alliance was formed against the grasping 
French king by his equally avaricious neighbors, King John, 
the emperor, and the count of Flanders. John was to attack 
from his territories in the southwest ; the emperor and the 
count from the Netherlands to the northeast of France. But 
Philip Augustus crushed the emperor's army in the battle of 
Bouvines (1214) and the alliance crumbled. This BattleofBou- 
was a year after John's humiliating submission to vines - 1214 - 
the papacy : with his allies defeated he did not dare to pursue 
his plans, but returned to England thoroughly discredited and 
wholly unprepared to meet an uprising that partook of the 
nature of a national revolt. 

88. The Quarrel with the Barons. King John had now 
alienated both the two great orders in the kingdom, the clergy 
and the nobility, in part by his treatment of the church during 
the five sorrowful years of the interdict, and in part by his 
tyrannical actions in his efforts to raise funds opposition of 
for his unpopular and unsuccessful foreign wars, the three 
These years of trouble had also interfered with the 
profession of the merchant, especially with the foreign trade; 
and the cities had become disaffected with the rest of the 
nation. Thus all the three estates of the realm, the classes that 
possessed the power, the wealth, and the influence, were arrayed 
in opposition to the king. 

During the two years following the submission (12 13-12 14) 
there was much agitation among the magnates of England. 
Several meetings were held, the most important being under 
the guise of a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint pilgrimage of 
Edmund in Norfolk just before Christmas, 12 14. the barons to 

J , , , . . , St. Edmund's. 

The barons had heard of the coronation charter 

of Henry I, in which the king had promised to deal justly 



104 



THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE 



with his barons and to exact only the legal and customary dues 
and revenues. To the lords who had suffered for nearly a 
generation from the exactions of Richard and John, this seemed 
a desirable document, and they were determined to have it 
confirmed. 

The months between Christmas and Easter were spent in 
fruitless negotiations, in which Archbishop Langton took a 
leading part as mediator between the king and the barons. 
Neither side could take any effective action during the winter 
months; but soon after Lent the discontented barons gathered 
Revolt of the a, large force of knights and foot soldiers and 
barons. marched upon London. Deserted by all but a 

few powerless favorites, the king withdrew from the city, and 
London opened its gates to the rebels. A month later the 
Great Charter was signed and sealed at Runnymede, a meadow 
on the south bank of the Thames not far from Windsor. 1 

89. The Great Charter. 2 The Great Charter bears some 
resemblance to the earlier Charter of Henry I, but it is more 
A feudal extensive, more elaborate, and more explicit. It 

document. } s a feudal document and is concerned almost ex- 
clusively with the nobility : almost every section deals with 
some grievance of the baronage. There are also a number of 
sections that are of interest to the church and the mercantile 
classes or have to do with the government of the kingdom. 
The provisions of the Charter may therefore be grouped under 
four heads. 

i. An effort is made to secure the rights, the privileges, and 
the property of the nobility. According to feudal custom, 
Security for certain payments or services were due the king 
the nobility. from his tenants or from their lands. These were 
stated in fairly specific terms and the king promised to exact 
only what he had a right to exact according to ancient custom. 

1 Cheyney, pp. 180-181; Tuell and Hatch, No. 14 (Norgate); Kipling, Reeds of 
Runnymede. 

2 Cheyney, No. no; Robinson, No. 47; Tuell and Hatch, No. 15; Gardiner, 182- 
184; Masterman, 46-50. The first three give extracts from Magna Carta. 



THE GREAT CHARTER 105 

It thus became more difficult for the king to increase the bur- 
dens of the baronage as William Rufus had done or to reduce 
the rights of the nobility as Henry II had tried to do. 

2. The Charter makes some attempt to secure the property 
of the merchants as well as of the nobles; for the merchants 
had been useful allies in the fight against King John. Security 
Specific mention is made of the city of London: for the 

. , • ,1 i 11 1 ii •, merchants. 

the king promises that it 'shall have all its an- 
cient liberties and free customs, as well by land as by water." 
The same rights are secured to "all other cities and boroughs 
and villages and ports." These guarantees have special refer- 
ence to commerce and were of interest chiefly to merchants, 
whom the English kings had occasionally afflicted with bur- 
densome dues and taxes. 

3. The church is assured of the right to govern itself, or to 
be free from secular interference in the election of its high 
officials, but the terms used are very general. Freedom for 
After the death of Stephen Langton Henry III the church, 
protested against the choice of the Canterbury monks, and the 
pope sustained the protest. There were several contested 
elections in the thirteenth century, and the pope was usually 
found on the king's side, for the Roman see could not always 
afford to insist on the freedom that it claimed for the church. 

4. The machinery of government is left practically un- 
touched. The reforms of Henry II are recognized ; but there 
seems to be an effort to limit their operation Reforms of 

and to prevent further extension of the king's Henry II 

, 1 st ■. ni. * recogmzed. 

power. In a sense, therefore, the Great Charter 

is a reactionary document : it looks back to the times before 
the king had begun to interfere with feudal rights. It is im- 
portant to note that the king promises to collect only the cus- 
tomary dues from the baronage, unless the barons themselves 
shall consent to the new demands in a formal great council. 
In this we have at least a recognition of the principle that the 
king ought not to change the laws without the consent of the 
classes that were affected by the change. 



io6 



THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE 




THE GREAT CHARTER 107 

The term "freeman," which is used repeatedly in the Great 
Charter, is used in a feudal sense, and was practically limited 
to lords and knights. " Liberties" in those days meant privi- 
leges ; and it was the liberties of the aristocratic classes that the 
Charter was intended to secure. There were men 0f slight 
in England who were neither nobles, churchmen, interest to 
nor tradesmen, but were still ranked among the 
freemen ; but they formed neither a large nor an important 
class; the vast mass of the nation was composed of unfree 




The Great Charter 
Part of the illustration opposite, four-fifths the size of the original. 

villeins. For the villeins the Charter makes no promises of any 
value. Only when villeinage had disappeared and all were 
freemen, did the Charter come to have importance for all 
classes. Four hundred years after the signing of Magna Carta, 
in the fight between the English people and their Stuart kings, 
the Great Charter was revived by the famous Later interpre- 
lawyer Edward Coke; and with a new interpreta- rations of the 
tion of the word "freeman," it was used very 
effectively against the king. The following two sections be- 
came very important in Coke's day : 

" 39. No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed, 
or outlawed, or banished, or in any way destroyed, nor will we 
go upon him, nor send upon him, except by the legal judgment 
of his peers or by the law of the land. 



108 THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE 

"40. To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay 
right or justice." 

In John's day this meant that the king promised fair and 
just dealings to his own feudal tenants or vassals, and that a 
baron should be tried by a court of barons and not by men of a 
No reference l° wer class, as they would not be his "peers." A 
to jury trials jury for the trial of criminal offenses did not yet 
in the Charter. exigt ^ England> Coke and the p ur i ta ns, however, 

understood that these sections limited the king's power to im- 
prison his political enemies and secured a jury trial to all who 
were charged with crime. New England was settled in Coke's 
day, and the views of the great Puritan lawyer as to the rights 
guaranteed by the Great Charter ultimately found their way 
into the earliest amendments to the American constitution. 

90. The Death of John: Importance of His Reign. 
Innocent III condemned the Charter on the plea that it was 
an attempt to bind his vassal without consulting himself as 
Revolt of overlord of England. He ordered Stephen Lang- 

the barons. ton to excommunicate the opponents of John, 
and when the archbishop refused to do so, he suspended him 
from official duties. John broke his promises almost as soon 
as he had made them, and the result was civil war. This time 
it was the barons who turned to France for help ; and Philip's 
son, Louis, came over to England to lead the disaffected lords. 
Death of But a year after he had granted the Charter, John 

J° hn - died from partaking too freely, it is said, of unripe 

peaches. A few months earlier Innocent III had passed away. 
The rebellion soon died down, and Louis of France, consoled 
by an indemnity of 10,000 marks, departed for France. 

In spite of the fact that the reigning monarch was a man of 
low ideals in government as well as in personal morals, and 
Summary of that many of his chief advisers were of the king's 
John's reign. own y nd with small enthusiasm for good govern- 
ment, the reign of John is a notable one in English history. In 
this reign was broken a foreign connection that had prevented 
the adoption of a purely English policy. Aquitaine, it is true, 



LATER HISTORY OF THE CHARTER 109 

remained a possession of the Angevin kings; but the connec- 
tion with this distant duchy was never so close as with the 
nearer Normandy. In this same reign it became apparent 
that, although the papacy had reached the culmination of its 
power and had become what Hildebrand and Anselm and 
Saint Bernard had hoped that it would become, its weapons, 
when directed against a resolute nation led by a capable king, 
would be of little service. But most important of all, in this 
reign it was asserted in the Great Charter, at least by implica- 
tion, that the king is subject to law and that there The king is 
are forces in the nation that have a right to share below the law. 
in the control of the government. The separate provisions of 
the Charter were easily broken or evaded ; but the central 
principle has remained in the English political system to this 
day. 

91. Later History of the Charter. King John was suc- 
ceeded by his nine year old son Henry III. For the next decade 
the country was governed by a regency, a small Reissues of the 
committee in which the papal legate, as the repre- Great Charter, 
sentative of Henry's recognized overlord, held a prominent 
position. The regency once more issued the Charter though 
in a mutilated form, some of the more significant provisions 
being omitted. During the thirteenth century the document 
was reissued or confirmed more than thirty times, but always 
in a mutilated form : the original document was never carried 
out in full. After the feudal system had fallen into decay, the 
provisions of the Charter became obsolete, and the document 
was forgotten. Not till the seventeenth century did it again 
become an object of national interest. 

92. Summary. Henry II and his two sons governed England 
for nearly two generations. It was a period of great disturb- 
ances in the Christian world and of much interest chief lines of 
in foreign affairs ; still, it was a period of great development, 
importance for the internal history of England. 

Four lines of development can be distinctly traced. (1) There 
was an evident effort on the part of the king to strengthen his 



no THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE 

position in the kingdom and to give a new meaning to kingship 
by resuming some of the powers that the monarchy had lost 
to the church and the nobility. This is particularly true of 
Henry II. (2) This purpose led to a great conflict with the 
church which was renewed in the reign of John. There was 
also an attempt to reduce the importance of the barons ; this 
led to opposition and rebellion and to the demand for a " Charter 
of Liberties." (3) An important step was taken toward the 
unification of the British kingdoms by the annexation of Ireland. 
(4) A great series of reforms in the local government was ini- 
tiated : the system of itinerant justices was developed ; the 
local courts were strengthened ; and the jury came into being. 
The real achievements of the period belong to Henry II. In 
the conflict with the church and with the baronage the king 
lost ; but the victorious parties gained very little. The church 
learned that it was unwise to fight the king ; and the barons 
found that it was difficult to control the ruler after they had 
defeated him. 

REFERENCES 

Henry II. — Green, Henry II, 1-20. 

The quarrel with Becket. — Bateson, Medieval England, 194-200; 
Oman, History of England, 100-106; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 
139-144; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 1 17-122. 

Reforms of Henry II. — Cheyney, Short History of England, 147-156; 
Fletcher, Introductory History of England, I, i, 140-148; Green, cc. iv-vi. 

The annexation of Ireland. — Barnard, Strongbow, 7-16, 28-40; Green, 
c. viii; Innes, History of England, 88-91; Johnston and Spencer, Ireland's 
Story, c. xii; Lawless, Ireland, 76-97. 

Persecution of the Jews. — Jacobs, Jews of Angevin England, 11 2-136. 

The Third Crusade. — Archer and Kingsford, Crusades, 324-328; Oman, 
1 16-120. 

The Great Charter. — Fletcher, I, i, 182-188; Innes, 98-100. 

Progress in the twelfth century. — Bateson, 70-95; Cross, History of 
England, 125-132; Gardiner, Student's History of England, 167-171; Tout, 
146-156. 



CHAPTER V 
THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM 

93. The Medieval Ideas of Universality. Throughout 
the middle ages the human mind was haunted by the idea that 
all great institutions should be universal. From the ancient 
world came the magnificent idea of the Empire, a universal 
monarchy like that built up by the armies of Rome, Medieval 
which for several centuries governed all the lands ideas and 
that were then regarded as lying within the limits 

of civilization. It was this idea that inspired Charlemagne 
with his mighty purpose to unite all the Germanic peoples and 
tribes into one Christian Germanic Empire with the Franks 
as the guiding element. In the tenth century and later the 
kings of Germany strove to realize the same idea but with little 
success. All through the later middle ages the Christian kings of 
Europe looked upon the emperor as a ruler of higher rank than 
themselves ; but he could not command their obedience. From 
Christianity came the idea of a universal Church which in the 
middle ages came very near realization in the ecclesiastical 
empire of the Roman papacy. The institutions of the church 
were all of the universal type : its language, its form of govern- 
ment, its doctrines, and its ritual were practically identical 
everywhere. Universal, too, were the monastic orders, and 
especially the newer orders of friars, each of which was con- 
trolled by a general who resided at Rome. The middle ages 
also developed a typical social system, one that was, at least, 
widely diffused : feudalism with its basis in villeinage. 

94. Nationalism in the Thirteenth Century. The argu- 
ment must not be pushed too far, however, as there were always 



ii2 THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM 

local institutions and local peculiarities in the various parts of 
Europe. In fact, the lack of easy communication tended to 
emphasize these. There had also been a constant interest in 
what we now call the nation : the Anglo-Saxon realized that he 
was an Englishman and that England was his home ; and he 
fought fiercely for his country and his dynasty against the 
invading Danes and Normans. But the all-pervading passion 
of nationalism, the feeling that England should be for the 
England be- English, that all its institutions should bear a 
comes English, peculiarly English stamp, and that the external 
influences that to such a large extent directed the life and activ- 
ity of the nation should be controlled from within the state, 
— this feeling was a matter of slow growth. Nationalism is 
the product of a common history : not until the Saxon, the 
Mercian, the Northman, the Dane and the Norman had lost 
their interest in their individual pasts and had developed a 
new interest in their common historic experiences, could real 
nationalism become possible. When English history reaches 
the thirteenth century, this new feeling is evident in every 
important field of national life. 

95. Opposition to Alien Officials. 1 The first prominent fact 
is opposition to foreign influences and foreign control. One 
Foreigners in thing that John had to promise in the Great Char- 
England. ter was "t remove from the kingdom all foreign- 
born soldiers, crossbowmen, servants, and mercenaries, who 
have come with horses and arms for the injury of the realm." 
During the first half of the century alien influences in the 
administration were also gotten rid of to a considerable extent. 
So close had been the relations between England and the 
country in the valley of the Loire, that it was only natural 
that adventurers in search of offices should crowd into Eng- 
land, where the natives had been shut out of officialdom for a 
century and a half. 

A stream of such adventurers came into the country during 
the first decade after the granting of the Great Charter, when 

1 Innes, I, 126-129. 



THE GASCON AND SICILIAN VENTURES 113 

the bishop of Winchester, a native of Poitou, was the personal 
tutor and guardian of the young king, Henry III. Poitevins and 
In the following decade came a host of impoverished Provencals, 
noblemen from southeastern France, the old region of Provence, 
who arrived on the occasion of King Henry's marriage to 
Eleanor of Provence. Among these were four uncles of the 
royal bride, princes of no striking abilities, but l23fi 
eager for places of power and importance. One of 
them was even elevated to the office of archbishop. Ten 
years later, about 1246, came a third migration, this time again 
from Poitou. The king's mother, Isabella, was ^ nAC 

1246. 

still a young woman when John died ; soon after 
that event she returned to France and married the son of 
the Count Hugh to whom she had been betrothed before King 
John made his fateful journey into western France. By this 
second marriage Queen Isabella became the mother of a numer- 
ous family ; but many of her children were finally forced to 
withdraw from France because of unsuccessful resistance to 
King Louis IX (Saint Louis), who was striving to extend the 
influence of the French crown into the Loire country. They 
sought refuge in England ; and the king's half- The king's 
brothers, like the queen's uncles, were given places half-brothers, 
of profit and prominence in Henry's kingdom. They, like the 
other immigrant nobles, were utterly ignorant of English 
needs, and did little to help the amiable and kindly, but weak 
and incompetent king to govern the land. 

96. The Gascon and Sicilian Ventures. It was only 
natural that these French relatives should be interested in the 
extension of Angevin influence on the Continent, especially 
in France. It was largely through their influence that Henry 
III was induced to look with favor upon two ventures, neither 
of which accorded with- true English policy: he wanted to 
regain some of the French territories that his father had lost ; 
and he wished to secure the Sicilian crown for his younger son, 
to whom it had been offered by the pope. 

In 1 241 Henry made an effort to regain Poitou, which had 



H4 THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM 

been lost during the period of the king's minority. But King 
Henry was no match either in war or in diplomacy for his great 
rival, Saint Louis of France. Louis IX had inherited all the 
great qualities of kingship that his grandfather Philip Augustus 
had possessed ; in addition he had certain personal virtues that 
his grandfather never cared to possess. He defeated Henry's 
The failure attempt to regain Poitou, and the boundary of 
in Poitou. English Aquitaine was finally moved one hundred 

miles south from the Loire to the Charente. On other sides, 
too, Henry's French territories were pared away, till only a 
remnant remained of Eleanor's grand duchy. From now on 
for a hundred years, the possessions of the English kings in 
France were usually known as Gascony. 

Since the days of Hildebrand there had been an almost 
continuous strife between the papacy and the emperors, who 
claimed sovereignty over northern Italy and some authority 
over the papal kingdom itself. In the thirteenth century the 
The Sicilian emperor also came into possession of Naples and 
venture. Sicily, and the pope now found a hostile dynasty 

on both borders of his kingdom. After the death of Frederick 
II (1250), the pope made an effort to break up this dangerous 
connection between northern and southern Italy by finding a 
new king for Naples and Sicily. The crown was offered to 
Henry's brother Richard and even to Henry himself; but the 
English king finally accepted it for his younger son Edmund, 
and in return for the honor he offered to help the pope with a 
subsidy of 140,000 marks. 

97. The Opposition of the Barons: 1 Simon de Montfort. 
These two ventures, the Gascon and the Sicilian, were as futile 
as they were expensive and the barons objected to the contri- 
butions levied. The great chronicler Matthew Paris tells us 
that when the subject of the Sicilian subsidy was broached in 
the Great Council, "the ears of all men tingled and their hearts 
stood still with amazement." 2 The barons finally found a 
leader in Simon de Montfort, 3 the king's brother-in-law, who was 

1 Cheyney, No. 126. 2 Kendall, pp. 80-81. 3 Tuell and Hatch, No. 17. 



THE "MISE OF AMIENS;" BARONIAL REVOLT 115 

also a Frenchman. It is not likely that in his opposition to 
King Henry Simon de Montfort was inspired with Simon de 
the highest motives. Some years before, the king Mon tfort. 
had sent him to Gascony as governor, but his methods were 
not enjoyed by the Gascon people, who had serious objections 
to efficient government of any sort. Henry III gave a ready 
ear to the complaints of his subjects and Simon lost the royal 
favor. Soon he was enrolled among the king's most active 
opponents. 

98. The "Mise of Amiens;" the Baronial Revolt. The 
chief grievances of the barons were the influence of foreigners 
in the government and the heavy taxes that were levied for 
purposes that brought no advantage to the nation. Several 
attempts were made to limit the royal power by giving the 
king a council appointed by the assembled barons, the most 
notable of which was a series of provisions drawn up at Oxford 
at an angry meeting of the barons known as the Mad Parlia- 
ment. 1 According to the provisions of Oxford the The Mad 
king was to take no measure of importance with- Parliament - 
out consulting a committee of fifteen men chosen by the king 
and the barons ; but neither this nor any other scheme of reform 
seemed workable. The king was incompetent, but the barons 
were selfish, and it is unlikely that they would have given 
England good government. The king soon set the "Provi- 
sions" aside and the result was civil war. Finally Louis IX as 
it was agreed to refer the matter in dispute to arbitrator. 
Louis IX of France as arbitrator. Saint Louis 
was a king who was just by nature ; but he believed that 
royalty should exercise wide authority, and to him any plan 
to limit the king's powers seemed an abomination. By a 
decision known as the " Mise of Amiens" (1264), he found 
Henry Ill's position correct and proper in every respect. 

The barons refused to accept this decision and prepared to 
resist the king. Henry now had the assistance of his young 
son Edward, a strong, sensible prince, who from this time on 

1 Innes, I, 130-134. 



n6 THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM 

came to be the real force in the government. Simon de Mont- 
The battle of fort led the baronial army against the royal forces 
Lewes. 1264. at Lewes in Sussex and gained a complete victory. 
Prince Edward was taken prisoner and for a year Simon was 
in control of the kingdom. 

99. Simon de Montfort's Parliament. In attempting to 
reach a settlement with the king, Earl Simon made use of an 
institution that had been taking form since late in the reign of 
John, the parliament. 1 A parliament was the old great coun- 
Beginnings of cil of prominent nobles with an added element of 
parliament. representative knights from the shires. Simon de 
Montfort did not originate parliament. As early as 12 13, the 
year of John's reconciliation with the church, an attempt was 
made to consult the shires through their representatives. Dur- 
ing the troubles between Henry III and the nobility, both 
sides had called in representatives from the counties to assist 
in the deliberations of the great council. As the members 
chosen were always knights, this additional element might be 
looked upon as a representation of the lesser nobility. In the 
local government of the shires the knights were the controlling 
element ; and it was wise to seek the support of a class that 
was of such great influence and importance. 

Simon de Montfort added a new element, one that was dis- 
tinctly non-baronial, in the burgesses or representatives from 
Representation ^ ne or g an i ze d towns called boroughs. The parlia- 
of the bor- ment of 1265 was packed with Simon's friends; 
oug s * ' it was to make his control absolutely sure that he 

summoned in the king's name representatives from such bor- 
oughs as he knew to be friendly to himself. It is not probable 
that he intended this arrangement to be permanent; but 
Edward, when he became king, acted on the precedent of 1265 
and thus parliament came to be composed of three elements : 
the barons, including the chief officials of the church ; two 
knights from each shire; and two burgesses, usually mer- 
chants, from each borough or city. Sixty years after de Mont- 

1 Gardiner, 196, 201-202; Masterman, 54-55. 



THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT IN THE CHURCH 117 



fort's time, the members from the counties and the boroughs 
began to sit as one body and the house of commons came into 
being. In the term "commons" there is no sug- The House of 
gestion of any lower or humbler class : the house Commons, 
of commons was the representation of the organized communi- 
ties, 1 which were the 
shires and the bor- 
oughs. As the bor- 
oughs were far more 
numerous than the 
counties, the bur- 
gesses at once came 
to be the controlling 
force in the house. 

Simon de Mont- 
fort's work of reform 
was not lasting. 
Prince Edward es- 
caped from captivity 
and joined the 
Marchers on the 
Welsh Battle of Eve- 
border who were already in revolt. At the battle sham - 1265> 
of Evesham the baronial insurgents were defeated, Simon de 
Montfort being among the slain. 2 

100. The National Movement in the Church. The opposi- 
tion to foreign influences was also apparent in the church. 
During Henry's minority the papal legate took a prominent 
part in the government, with the result that a great deal of 
jealousy was excited among the barons. When Opposition to 
he was finally withdrawn, Archbishop Langton papal legates, 
persuaded the pope to leave the post of legate vacant for a time. 
In 1237, a new legate appeared on the king's own invitation; 
his presence excited a great deal of open hostility, and when 
he came to Oxford he was mobbed by the students. 

1 Masterman, 59-60. 2 Innes, I, 134-139; Kendall, No. 26; different accounts. 




A Church Council 

Drawn by Mathew Paris, the St. Albans Chronicler 
(iiq5?-i25q). 



n8 



THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM 



At this point there appears prominently in history an Eng- 
lish churchman who from that time on for a period of more 
than twenty years led the English church in its 
opposition to foreign domination : Robert Grosse- 
teste, bishop of the extensive diocese of Lincoln. Robert 
Grosseteste was an Englishman of the villein class, who by 



Grosseteste. 




Lincoln Cathedral 
One of the finest churches in England; the choir dates from 1192, 



sheer power of intellect and courageous devotion to study 
and research had gained a fame for scholarship and intellectual 
leadership that extended far beyond the limits of the island. 
He had studied at the universities of Oxford and Paris, was 
interested in the translation of Greek writings, and was «a friend 
of Roger Bacon, the greatest scientist of the time. He had 
passed middle life before he was promoted to the 
bishopric of Lincoln ; but he stepped almost im- 
mediately into Langton's place as a national leader of the 
English church. 

Bishop Grosseteste was a firm believer in the rights of the 



1235. 



THE SYSTEM OF " PRO VISORS " 119 

Holy See : he held that the pope was above kings and bishops 
and must be obeyed. But he realized that much Grosseteste 
corruption and unwisdom existed in high places, as a reformer, 
and he felt that it was his duty to punish sin wherever he found 
it. Till the day of his death he was outspoken in opposition to 
extortion and misgovernment on the part of pope and king. 
Once he was suspended from his office for resistance to Rome 
and at a later time was threatened with even severer punish- 
ment ; but the pope was warned that to proceed 1253 
against a bishop with such a wide renown for piety 
and zeal would be indiscreet and the strenuous bishop was per- 
mitted to retain his diocese till his death. 

101. Papal Taxation in England. 1 Aside from the exas- 
perating officiousness of the papal legate, the English church 
had two grievances against the Roman curia : heavy taxation 
and the system of provisors. The financial troubles were the 
earlier ones. The legate who had such a serious encounter 
with the studious men of Oxford spent several years in England, 
chiefly in the interest of the papal treasury. The legate finally 
demanded that the English churches and monas- Papal 
teries should pay a fifth of their income for that exactlons - 
year to the Roman see. The English churchmen protested, 
but to small purpose, as the king, who was unable to see how 
his obedience to the church could have any limits, took the 
legate's part and threatened the objectors with dire punish- 
ment. Bishop Grosseteste was not able to interfere much with 
the legate's success as a collector, but he did much to formulate 
a strong public sentiment against the papal demand. 

102. The System of "Provisors." The system of pro- 
visors was one by which church offices were -provided" with 
future incumbents, even before there was any prospect of an 
early vacancy. In other words, the pope would promise a cer- 
tain definite appointment to some favored friend, Provisors> 
follower, or relative while the office was still filled. 
Frequently the men for whom such "provision" was made 

1 Gardiner, 194, i97- 



120 THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM 

were Italians; thus England was threatened with another 
stream of foreign office-holders, though as a matter of fact most 
of these "provisors" never came to the country; they per- 
formed the duties of the office through deputies, their own 
care being for the revenues only. To a people that was de- 
veloping a vigorous national consciousness, such conditions soon 
became intolerable ; and when the pope promised the spoilsmen 
of Rome the next three hundred church offices that should be- 
come vacant in England, the entire nation was stirred. The 
archbishop of Canterbury, the saintlike Edmund Rich, promptly 
set out for Rome to protest against this measure. He died on 
the journey, and Boniface of Savoy, one of the queen's uncles, 
succeeded him. 

103. England Becomes English. Thus far the national 
movement has been considered chiefly on the negative side, as 
Positive phases opposition to domination from abroad. It had, 
of English however, a strong positively English phase, which 
nationalism. a p pearec i most prominently in the growth of Eng- 
lish law and legal institutions, in the revival of English language 
and literature, and in the development of an English type of 
architecture. Henry III was a native Englishman and took 
great pride in the fact. He gave English names to his two 
sons Edward and Edmund. French, however, remained the 
language of the royal court for some time yet, though Henry's 
successor, Edward I, made considerable use of English in con- 
versational speech. 

104. Development of English Law. The thirteenth cen- 
tury saw the completion of a remarkable development of Eng- 
lish law ; it saw the beginning of still another. In feudal times, 
when custom ruled, laws were local in their application, each 
section or region having its own usages that passed for law. 
The itinerant justices 1 that were sent through the circuits 
by Henry II found these customs deficient ; and soon there 
arose from the decisions of these judges a body of law that was 
common to the whole kingdom and was therefore known as the 

1 Review sec. 74. 



DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH LAW 121 

"common law." The common law was made up of a variety 

of elements : Old English law, feudal customs, royal The Common 

instructions to the judges, principles borrowed Law - 

from Roman and canon law, and judicial decisions were the 

more prominent. Toward the end of Henry Ill's reign, after 

this growth had continued for one hundred years, „ 

& J ' Bracton. 

Henry Bracton, an eminent English lawyer and 

jurist, summed up and systematized the common law in a 




The Hall, Acton Burnell, Shropshire 
The hall in this case partakes of the nature of a castle, as the towers were 
probably intended for defensive purposes. One of Edward I's most famous 
statutes, The Statute of Merchants, was drawn up in the manor house of 
Acton Burnell. 

famous law book. The growth of the common law did not 
cease with Bracton's work, but after the close of Henry Ill's 
reign this growth is not such a prominent fact in the history of 
English law. 

The legal development continued in statute law, which was 
enacted from time to time as it was found necessary to supple- 
ment the common law. Statute law emanates „ 

Statute law. 
from some authority that possesses law-making 

power ; in earlier times this was the king, but the power soon 
passed to parliament. The Charter of Henry I and the Great 
Charter are counted among the statutes ; but the earliest law 
that bears the statute name belongs to the reign of Henry III. 



122 THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM 

There were, however, but few enactments of this sort before 
the reign of Edward I, when they became quite numerous. So 
great was his activity in this direction that he has come to be 
Legislation of known as the English Justinian. Edward ordered 
Edward I. ^he highways to be widened and the underbrush 

removed so as to make travel safer. Better protection was 
given to the merchants. A police system was originated for 
the boroughs. These and many other practical questions were 
taken up in the councils of the great lawyer-king and found 
settlement in the form of statutes. The First Statute of 
Westminster which was drawn up soon after Edward's corona- 
tion included no fewer than fifty-one laws. 

105. Anti-ecclesiastical Legislation: the "Dead. Hand." 
Suggestive of English opposition to papacy as a foreign power 
and to the growing strength of the ecclesiastical side of the state 
was an effort in Edward's day to limit the wealth of the church. 
Feudalism as a force in the state was passing away : the knight 
was yielding his place to the yeoman archer; and representa- 
tives of the mercantile class in the boroughs were soon to con- 
trol the lower house in parliament. But the financial and 
social arrangements of feudalism persisted a long time. The 
death of a tenant brought certain monetary advantages to 
the overlord : his heir would have to pay a certain sum of money 
called the relief before he could get possession of the ancestral 
lands ; if the heir was a minor, the lord managed the property, 
usually to his own advantage, till he was of age ; perhaps there 
would be a widow or an heiress for whom an advantageous 
marriage could be arranged. These payments, or profits, were 
Statute of known as feudal incidents. The church, too, held 
Mortmain. lands on feudal terms ; — but the church never 
died. The lords who gave lands to an ecclesiastical corpora- 
tion could no longer collect the feudal incidents. The hand of 
the church was a "dead hand :" it could never give out or back 
what it had once acquired, though its abilities to receive and to 
hold were never impaired. There was, consequently, a great 
deal of land in England which could never be bought or sold and 



THE LITERARY REVIVAL: LAYAMON AND ORM 123 

which yielded very little revenue to the nominal overlord. To 
remedy this condition, Edward, by the Statute of Mortmain, 
forbade all further grants of this type to the church ; but 
various expedients were found by which the statute might be 
avoided ; later kings gave their permission freely, and land 
continued to pass into mortmain. 

106. The Great Central Courts. During the thirteenth 
century the development of the three central courts also 
reached practical completion. In the twelfth century, the age 
of Henry I and Henry II, important disputes of Development 
various sorts had begun to find settlement in the of the judicial 
curia regis, the king's own court, theoretically in sys em * 

the king's own presence. These disputes increased in number 
and fell into three main classes : financial questions ; matters 
in which the king was interested or concerned; and disputes 
between the king's subjects that had not found satisfactory 
settlement in the local courts. The financial disputes very 
soon came to be decided in the exchequer, which in this way 
became a court as well as a chamber of accounts. Soon a 
bench of judges was provided for each of the other two classes, 
the king's bench and the common pleas. In the same period 
the jury system of the local courts was perfected by the develop- 
ment of the petit jury for criminal cases. 1 The The petit 
English judicial system, both the central and the J ury - 
local, was thoroughly national ; there were no corresponding 
institutions just like these elsewhere in Europe. But certain 
features of the English system, such as the jury and the itiner- 
ant justices, have been widely copied. 

107. The Literary Revival: Layamon and Orm. The 
thirteenth century also saw an important literary revival. 
Old English literature reached its highest point about the year 
1000 in the prose writings of Alfric. But the Dan- Anglo-Saxon 
ish conquest crushed the spirit of the Anglo-Saxons literature, 
and their writings during the eleventh century show little 
originality or literary excellence. With the passing of the 

1 Review sec. 75. 



124 THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM 

Norman dynasty, Old English literature also passed away : 
the last entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is for 1154. For 
half a century the literary voice of the English people was 
almost silent. The merry Englishman still sang old folk songs 
and probably composed new ballads; but, so far as we know, 
Latin and French were the only languages employed by liter- 
ary men during the reigns of Henry II and Richard I. English 
Layamon's literature reappeared, however, about 1205, when 
BruL Layamon, a priest from the Severn valley (Worces- 

tershire), wrote a rhyming chronicle in the tongue of the people. 
Layamon's Brut is a confused, inartistic production made up 
largely of Celtic legends ; nevertheless, it is an important land- 
mark in the history of English thought and culture. A few 
The years later another important literary document 

Ormulum. saw th e light : the Ormulum, a rhyming almanac 

and religious handbook by Orm, a priest who lived somewhere 
in the Midlands. It was Orm's purpose to give an English 
version of the passages from the Gospels that the church had 
appointed as a part of the service on each particular Sunday 
or church holiday, and to add a little sermon to each. Ten 
thousand lines of this strange production still exist. 

108. The Middle English Language. For the student of 
the English language the awkward verses of Layamon and 
Changes in ® rm are °^ inestimable value, as they serve to show 
the English how the language had developed in the preceding 
language. century. Great changes had come over the Eng- 

lish idiom in the twelfth century : the grammar had become 
simplified, largely by the loss of inflections in which the Anglo- 
Saxon was rich. Certain changes in the vowel sounds of the 
language had also begun to appear. A and e, which in Saxon 
times were sounded as in modern German, have become changed 
to their present sound values ; i, o, and u have in many cases 
The shifting of shifted to I, u, and ou respectively. Thus hal, 
vowel sounds. mmj ^5, anc j nuSj have become hale, mine, do, and 
house. In many instances the changes have not followed this 
rule and in many other cases the old sounds have remained. 



NATIONAL THEMES IN LITERATURE 125 

Some of the Old English vowel sounds have disappeared en- 
tirely. This development was not completed before the six- 
teenth century ; but some of the changes can be traced back 
to the twelfth. There had also been changes in the vocabulary : 
in the writings of Orm, who lived in the old Danelaw, there is 
evidence of a considerable borrowing from the Danish. It is 
surprising to find that neither of these two poems shows much 
French influence on the English. Apparently the changes 
came from growth within the language itself and not from 
foreign influences. 

109. The Chroniclers: Matthew Paris. The English 
spirit is apparent even among the men who wrote their thoughts 
in Latin. A little later than Layamon and Orm came Matthew 
Paris, the greatest historical writer of the English middle ages, 
who gathered into a lengthy chronicle all that he could learn of 
the British and English past. In the middle ages history was 
written chiefly in the monasteries : the monks had leisure, they 
knew the art of writing, and they had access to books. A short 
distance north of London was the great monastery of Saint 
Albans, the wealthiest and most important monastic founda- 
tion on the island. It had among its officials a Matthew 
historiographer ; and in the reign of Henry III Paris - 
Matthew Paris held this important post. This famous monk 
also wrote the happenings of his own day ; and his words 
betray much indignation when he writes of the inroads of the 
aliens, whether churchmen or seculars. Matthew Paris con- 
demns abuses wherever he finds them, and in his criticism he 
spares neither king nor pope. 

110. National Themes in Literature. The national ten- 
dency is also seen in the choice of literary themes, whether the 
writing was in English or not. In the eleventh century a liter- 
ary revival had appeared on the Continent which The new liter- 
continued in the romances of the French trouba- fry movement 

in England and 
dours and the German minnesingers of the twelfth onthe Conti- 

century. The English literary movement of the nent - 

thirteenth century doubtless got its impulse from France and 



126 



THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM 



was, therefore, not wholly national. But it is to be noted that 
such time-honored subjects as the Trojan war, the deeds of Alex- 
ander, Caesar, and Charlemagne were at this time beginning to 




A Monk in His Study 

give place to subjects that were English or at least British: 
King Arthur, Lancelot, Tristan and Iseult, the. Holy Grail, King 
Horn, Havelock the Dane, Alfred the Great, and Richard the 
Lion-heart became favorite subjects among the English roman- 
cers of the thirteenth century. Havelock the Dane and King 



THE UNIVERSITIES: OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE 127 

Horn were probably Danish viking chiefs ; but the more im- 
portant of the themes mentioned were Celtic and belonged to 
the Celtic lands of Wales and Cornwall. It was believed at 
one time that King Arthur's bones rested in a church at 
Glastonbury. According to legend Glastonbury was also the 
British home of the Holy Grail. 





-: m ^ 


"*fe#jj 


lf^ 


ESS**?; ,- 




1 ! 


' ■<*.; '- - «;« 



Glastonbury Abbey 

Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea. King Arthur and Queen Guinevere are 
said to be buried in the Glastonbury cemetery. Saint Dunstan was one of 
the abbots of this abbey; the same honor is claimed for Saint Patrick. 

From a photograph by W. H. Dudley. 

111. The Universities: 1 Oxford and Cambridge. An im- 
portant factor in this nationalistic development was the English 
university. Oxford 2 became a university in the Oxford and 
twelfth century, in the days of Henry II, though Cambridge, 
an important school had existed there somewhat earlier. Cam- 
bridge was founded in the thirteenth century, in the days of 
Henry III. It was during the latter reign, too, that arrange- 
ments were made for the accommodation of stu- The college 
dents in colleges. A college was a group of build- s y stem - 
ings where the students ate, slept, studied, and worshiped; it 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 111-114. 2 Tuell and Hatch, No. 23. 



128 THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM 

would therefore have a dormitory, a dining hall, a library, and a 
chapel. The first of these colleges is said to have been Merton 
College, founded by Bishop Merton of Rochester toward the close 
of the reign of Henry III. About the same time the wealthy 
Balliol family founded and endowed Balliol College. In those 
same years a group of students at Cambridge were formed into 
an association that later grew into the college of Peterhouse. 
In time the colleges became the most characteristic feature of 
English university life. 

112. Medieval Science: Roger Bacon. The universities 
were still chiefly devoted to theological study, but other sub- 
jects, such as law, also flourished. The sciences were scarcely 
Medieval m existence as yet, for the medieval mind feared 
science. ± investigate nature, as that might mean searching 
out the secrets of God, which, it was believed, He guarded 
jealously ; or it might mean coming into contact with the forces 
of Satan, whose control in this evil world was thought to be 
quite extensive. However, such men as Robert Grosseteste were 

not to be deterred from any form of study ; and 
Roger Bacon. , _, _, 

Grosseteste s younger contemporary, Roger Bacon, 1 

was a true scientist with wonderful insight. He looked forward 
to a time when the secrets of nature should all be known, when 
carriages should be self-propelling, and men should sail the air as 
well as the sea. Roger Bacon soon came to be regarded as a 
dangerous character ; the pope withdrew his right to teach at 
Oxford and soon afterwards he was sent to prison, where he 
spent many years, though superior knowledge of nature was his 
only crime ; but to his contemporaries the science of physics was 
very much like magic, which, it was agreed, was of evil origin. 

113. The Friars in England. 2 The great scientist belonged 
to a new religious order of the monastic type, the Franciscan 
Franciscans friars. During the years of the interdict in Eng- 
and land, an Italian layman, Francis of Assisi, was 
Dominicans. g atne ring a small band of followers and organizing 
them into a monastic brotherhood, whose great purpose should 

i Robinson, Nos. 78-79. 2 Gardiner, 190-191. 



PROGRESS IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY 129 

be to serve humanity, to go out into the world and bring phys- 
ical and spiritual aid and comfort to the distressed and suf- 
fering, not like the monks 1 to strive in solitude for their own 
salvation. The Franciscans and a similar organization of 
Spanish origin, the Dominicans, came to England in the early 
years of Henry Ill's reign, and soon became an important force 
at the universities. The friars had headquarters of the monas- 
tic type and were bound by monastic vows ; but they were not 
necessarily bound to any particular locality, they traveled 
wherever their presence seemed needful, often begging their 
way from door to door. The travels and labors of the friars 
doubtless did much to break down local prejudice and to develop 
a common English feeling. 

114. Architecture : Early English. A national characteristic 
also appeared in the architecture of the period. The thirteenth 
century was the great age in the building of the English cathe- 
drals ; many of the splendid religious monuments church 
that still adorn the English cathedral cities were architecture, 
built in large part during the reigns of Henry III and Edward 
I. The erection of great ecclesiastical edifices, churches, cathe- 
drals, and monasteries, began with the Normans, who were far 
in advance of the Anglo-Saxons as builders. Their style was 
a form of the Romanesque, with round arches and massive 
columns. This was later displaced by the lighter Gothic style 
with its pointed arches, lofty ceilings, stained Early English 
glass windows, and high towers and spires. In architecture. 
England the builders developed a national type of the Gothic 
that has since been called the Early English. 

115. Progress in the Thirteenth Century. The period of 
misrule and foreign influence extends down to the middle of the 
century, when the barons began an organized Political 
opposition. The twenty years from 1235 to 1255 disturbances, 
were especially fruitful of trouble and discontent. Within this 
period fall the king's marriage to Eleanor of Provence ; the 
coming of the queen's uncles and the king's half-brothers; 

1 Cheyney, No. 117; Tuell and Hatch, No. 19 (Jessopp). 



J 3° 



THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM 



the exactions of the papal legate ; the trouble over the pro- 
visors ; the unprofitable expedition to France, and the tempta- 
tion of the Sicilian crown. The rise of baronial opposition 





Salisbury Cathedral 

Perhaps the finest specimen of early English architecture in England. Built in the 
thirteenth century (1220-1258). 

culminated in the events of 1264 and 1265, with the mise of 
Amiens, the battles of Lewes and Evesham, and the parliament 
of Simon de Montfort. For the next forty years, the influence 
of Edward as prince and king is the controlling force in the 



PROGRESS IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY 131 

government, and England enjoyed a period of sane, efficient 
administration and progressive legislation. With the close of 
the century, however, Edward I became involved in foreign 
affairs and warfare to such an extent that domestic matters 
were lost sight of. 

But the weakness of the political rule in the days of Henry 
III must not be permitted to obscure the fact that the thir- 
teenth century was a wonderful age. About 1250, Achievements 
when the discontent was rising to the point of re- o f the century, 
bellion, there lived in England a number of men whose works 
form strong links in the chain of progress. Five of these 
deserve to be mentioned once more : Bracton the jurist ; Grosse- 
teste the learned churchman ; de Montfort, the leader of the 
baronial opposition and the transformer of parliament ; Roger 
Bacon, the great scientist ; and Matthew Paris, the historian 
of the age. It is the activity of these and many other 
writers, thinkers, builders, and statesmen which constitutes 
the true glory of the thirteenth century. 

REFERENCES 

The thirteenth century : general account. — Cheyney, Short His- 
tory of England, 187-204; Cross, History of England, 157-165; Fletcher, Intro- 
ductory History of England, I, i, 217-236; Jenks, Edward Plantagenet, c. iii; 
Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 244-248; Wrong, History of the British 
Nation, c. viii. 

The universities. — Barnard, Companion to English History, 307-315; 
Bateson, Medieval England, 237-246; Jessopp, Coming of the Friars, vi. 

Monks and friars. — Jessopp, i, iii; Jenks, 57-59. 

Simon de Montfort and the barons ' revolt. — Hutton, Simon de 
Montfort; Innes, History of England, 104-108; Jenks, c. vi; Oman, History of 
England, 139-147; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 193-200; Tout, 
167-175. 

Edward I. — Fletcher, I, i, 199-201; Innes, 117- 119; Tout, Edward I, c. i. 

Edward I as a lawmaker. — Andrews, History of England, 139-144; 
Cross, 178-181; Innes, 119-122; Jenks, c. ix; Oman, 149-153; Ransome, 
208-213; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 182-185; Tout, Edward I, 
c. vii. 

The beginnings of parliament. — Fletcher, I, i, 201-204; Tout, Edward 
I, c. viii. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE BRITISH IDEA AND THE WAR WITH 
FRANCE 

116. Edward I. 1272-1307. Edward I, whose reign began 

in 1272 and continued for thirty-five years, was one of the 

ablest and strongest kings that have ruled in England. He 

_, , T had none of the weaknesses of his amiable father, 

Jbdward l : per- ' 

sonaiity and nor did he inherit the mean spirit of his grand- 
character. f a ther John. In many respects he resembled his 
great ancestor Henry II, but his character was formed of finer 
clay. Edward I had great faith in himself, in his judgments, 
and in his purposes, a faith that almost amounted to a weak- 
ness, for the great king found it extremely easy to justify his 
own actions : so conscious was he of a desire to do what seemed 
right in every instance, that he rarely doubted the justice of 
anything that he purposed to do. Like Henry II he strove 
Statesmanship f° r order in the kingdom, for internal peace and 
of Edward's efficient government ; but with the notable differ- 
ence that what the first Angevin strove to attain 
by means of administrative machinery, Edward I sought to 
accomplish through extensive and enlightened legislation. 

117. The British Idea. In the national movement that has 
been traced in the preceding chapter, Edward had a consider- 
able part : more than any of his Norman or Angevin predeces- 
Unification sors he realized that he was an English king. But 
of Britain. Edward's plans were not limited to England : he 
wished to unify the British archipelago into a single state by 
extending the English political system over Scotland, Wales, 
and Ireland. This " British idea" was an ancient one; both 
the Anglo-Saxon and the Norman kings had asserted feudal 

132 



THE FINAL SUBJUGATION OF WALES 133 

claims to Wales and Scotland, and for a few years the king of 
Scotland had been the vassal of Henry II, who had also made 
some progress toward the conquest of Ireland ; but not before 
the reign of Edward I did circumstances appear favorable for 
the complete realization of the plan. 

118. The Final Subjugation of Wales. 1 Edward failed 
ultimately to subdue Scotland, but he succeeded in his opera- 
tions against the Welsh. In the thirteenth cen- The situation 
tury Wales was nominally under the suzerainty in Wales< 
of the English king ; but in fact the Welsh princes ruled quite 
independently over the parts of their country that still remained 
under Celtic control. It will be remembered that the Norman 
kings, being unable to annex the principality, had allowed those 
of their nobles who had the resources and the inclination to 
invade Wales and seize lordships for themselves. 2 These 
adventurers were fairly successful, and soon all the eastern and 
the southern borders had passed into the power of The March 
the lords of the March. Most prominent among 
the Marchers was the Mortimer family, whose possessions lay 
along the east border of Wales. The territory actually governed 
by the Welsh princes was therefore limited to the west and 
northwest, where the mountain masses of Snowdon make 
hostile movements extremely difficult. 

While Edward was still a prince, he was made earl of Chester, 
a county that lies on the border of North Wales. Llewellyn, 
the last Welsh prince of that name, ruled the prin- Llewellyn . 
cipality at the time. Though a vassal of Henry 
III it was his policy to oppose his overlord at every opportunity. 
In the Barons' War of 1265, he sided with Simon de Montfort. 
Llewellyn's purpose was to extend his sway over all the terri- 
tories of Wales, the March as well as the Snowdon country. 
Edward and the Welsh prince regarded each other with deep 
distrust; and when Edward became king Llewellyn showed no 
desire to appear at court and do homage. Five years after his 
accession (1277), the king invaded Llewellyn's territory and 

1 Gardiner, 210. 2 * eview sec - & 



134 



THE WAR WITH FRANCE 



with the help of the lords of the March succeeded in defeating 
the prince, whose realm was now definitely limited to the north- 
west part of Wales. The March-lands were formally separated 
from Wales and annexed to England. 




The Welshmen of the March soon found rule by English 
officials unbearable, and after five years of uncertain peace, 
war once more broke out between Edward I and his vassal 
Llewellyn. The English forces set out to conquer the prin- 
cipality, but found the task beset with great difficulties. Across 
Conquest of the northwest part of Wales lies the mount of 
North Wales. Snowdon like a massive wall with gentle slopes 
toward the Irish Sea and steep declivities toward England. 
Llewellyn's position seemed impregnable ; but at 
the critical moment the prince fell in a skirmish 
and resistance melted away. The conquered principality was 



1283. 



THE SCOTCH SUCCESSION 



135 



cut up into shires after the English plan and governed by royal 
officials after English methods. The shire system, however, 
was not extended to the March, where the lords for some time 
yet were allowed to continue in control. With Welsh 
the death of Llewellyn the old Welsh principality nationalism, 
perished. But the Welsh people have refusedTo become Eng- 
lish and have to a large extent remained Welsh in language 
and sentiment to the present day. 




Carnarvon Castle 
Edward II, the first "Prince of Wales," was born in this castle. 

119. The Scotch Succession. 1 The pacification of Wales 
was completed in 1283. Three years later the problem of 
Scotland took on an unusual interest. In the reign of Henry 
II, the Scottish king, William the Lion, was taken Feud&1 rela _ 
prisoner in battle and compelled to do homage to tions of Eng- 
the English king for all his lands. For fifteen l £*£* m 
years Scotland was virtually a province of England ; 
but when the impecunious Richard I became king, William was 
allowed to buy a release from his homage for 15,000 marks. 
The terms of the treaty were somewhat ambiguous in language, 
and there remained some doubt as to whether the English king 

1 Gardiner, 214. 



136 THE WAR WITH FRANCE 

did not still possess the right to some sort of overlordship 
over Scotland ; but for a century the matter was not pressed. 

Alexander III was king of Scotland in the early years of 
Edward's reign; but in 1286 he was accidentally killed, 1 and 
maim - Scotland was without a ruler. The nearest heir 

1286. 

Margaret, the was a little granddaughter Margaret, the daughter 
"Maid of f £ r j c? kj n g f N orW ay. a marriage was arranged 

between the eight year old princess and Edward's 
young son Edward, who was born soon after the Welsh cam- 
paign and bore the title prince of Wales. The princess was 
sent for, but on the way to Scotland she died, and the hope of 
a peaceful union of the kingdoms disappeared. 

120. The Makeup of Scotland. The kingdom of Scotland 
had arisen out of the consolidation of several minor kingdoms ; 
Picts and four separate sections make up modern Scotland. 

Scots - Bede informs us that in the fifth century, after 

the Romans had withdrawn from the island, the Britons were 
greatly distressed by the raids of Picts and Scots. The Picts 
were an ancient and probably Celtic people who had dwelt in 
the Highlands ; the Scots lived in Ireland. But a century later 
(about 500) the Scots had crossed into Great Britain and had 
settled in modern Argyle. With them came Saint Columba 
who founded the famous religious center at Iona and introduced 
Christianity among the Picts. The two kingdoms led a separate 
Kenneth existence for three centuries ; but in 844 Kenneth 

MacAipine. MacAlpine, king of the Scots, whose mother was 
a princess from Pictland, also became king of the 
Picts. Scone became the capital of this Highland kingdom, so 
far as any capital really existed, and the whole country was 
called Scotland. But south of the Forth was the Anglian dis- 
trict of Lothian, which was a part of Northumbria, and in the 
southwest was the Welsh kingdom of Strathclyde, which also 
included the northwestern counties of modern England. 

In 1018, just after the conquest of England by Cnut and 
before the Dane was strong enough to risk war, the Scots 

1 Innes, I, 140-143. 



THE MAKEUP OF SCOTLAND i 37 

invaded Northumbria, seized Lothian, and extended their 
boundaries to the river Tweed. Sixteen years Conquest of 
later the kingdom of Strathclyde was absorbed L <>thian. 1018. 
and the consolidation was complete except for the fact that 




% 

GOIDSCHMIOMK 



m 1 

SCOTLAND about 800 
Scale of Miles 



West from Greenwich 



the three adjacent groups of islands, the Hebrides, the Orkneys, 
and the Shetlands, were still for some time held Strathc i yde 
by the Norwegians, who had colonized them cen- added to Scot- 
turies before. In 1266 the Hebrides were added 
to the Scottish crown, but the other two groups remained under 
Norwegian rule for two centuries longer. 



138 THE WAR WITH FRANCE 

121. English Influence in Scotland. The annexation of 
Lothian brought far-reaching consequences, for Lothian was 
En lish English and from this section English civilization 
elements and English speech spread throughout the kingdom 
in Scotland. untn the Cdtic elements lost cont roL The capital 

was moved from Scone to Edinburgh, an ancient English town 
in Northern Lothian. The language of the capital was Eng- 
lish, for what is known as Scotch is merely a dialect of English. 
The old Gaelic speech, however, persisted in the Highlands. 

During the Norman period, especially in the reign of Henry 
I, whose queen came from Scotland, close relations were es- 
tablished between London and Edinburgh, and a strong Nor- 
man element migrated to the northern kingdom and began to 
strike roots in Scotch soil. The infiltration of alien nobles 
continued for some time, and some of these adventurers came 
Bruces and into close association with royalty itself. Among 
Baliiols. these were the Bruces and the Balliols, who by 

marriage came to be related to the Scotch dynasty. 

122. The Award of Norham. 1 When little Queen Margaret 
died, there was no lack of claimants to the throne ; nine pre- 
The Scotch tenders immediately appeared and before long four 
pretenders. more } a ^ c i a j m to the kingship. Of the thirteen 
eleven were of Norman-Scotch blood. Only three of them were 
seriously considered, however : John Balliol, Robert Bruce, and 

1 The problem of the succession to the Scotch throne in 1290. 

David I, 
1124-1153 

Henry, 
earl of Huntingdon 



Malcolm IV, William the Lion, David, 

1153-1165 1165-1214 earl of Huntingdon 



Alexander II. Alan, lord of = Margaret Isabella = Robert Bruce, Ada = Henry 

1 2 14-1240 Galloway I I lord of Annandale I Has- 

| I tings 

Alexander III, John Eal- = Devorguilla Robert Bruce | 

1 240-1 286 liol (claimant) Henry Hastings 

Eric of = Margaret John Balliol, Robert Bruce 

Norway | 1 292-1 296 I 

Margaret, Robert Bruce, John Hastings 

the Maid of Norway, 1306-1329 (claimant) 
died 1290 



REVOLT OF SCOTLAND AND WAR WITH FRANCE 139 

John Hastings. Two of these, Balliol and Bruce, were also vas- 
sals of Edward I for lands that they held in England. It was 
impossible for the Scotch people to decide among so many com- 
petitors ; so the chiefs agreed to submit to Edward's arbitration : 
and in requesting his intervention they advanced the theory 
that he was in fact the lord paramount of the kingdom. King 
Edward had never made any claim to the control of Scotland, 
but it is only natural that he should make as much as possi- 
ble out of this admission on the part of the Scotch leaders 
themselves. 

Edward I summoned the Scotch magnates to meet him at 
Norham on the border in 1291. 1 He came to the meeting.place 
with a strong force and at once revived the old claim to over- 
lordship. The Scotch submitted and acknowledged him as su- 
zerain. All the candidates for the kingship agreed "of our own 
free will to receive judgment from him as our Lord Paramount," 

and to abide by his decision. The following year 

^ , , , , , , 1 . J° hn Balliol, 

Edward made the award, and the crown was given king of 
to "John Balliol, a decision that was in strict con- Scotland. 

J ' 1292. 

formity to the feudal law of inheritance. John 

Balliol promptly did homage to Edward, who was continued as 

lord of all Britain.. 

123. The Revolt of Scotland and the War with France. 
Soon, however, the satisfaction of Scotland turned to distrust ; 
for Edward adopted a policy that went far beyond what feudal 
law would sustain : he demanded that appeals should go from 
the courts of Scotland to his own court of king's John Balliol 
bench at Westminster. The first case to be ap- renounces his 
pealed was one that was brought against King John 
Balliol himself by a certain wine merchant of Gascony who had 
an old bill against the Scotch crown for wine that had been 
furnished to Alexander III. This was too much for the Scotch 
king. After scarcely more than a year of apparent loyalty, 
John Balliol began negotiations with Edward's enemy, Philip 
the Fair of France. King Edward summoned him to join in a 

1 Cheyney, No. 133; Gardiner, 215-216. 



140 THE WAR WITH FRANCE 

war upon France, but King John refused. The following year, 
1295, he renounced his allegiance. 1 

The year 1295 is one of great landmarks in English history. 
Edward I was in a difficult position. Scotland was in revolt ; 
Situation Wales was restless ; and trouble was brewing in 

in 1295. France. There still remained to the Angevin 

kings the Gascon part of the Aquitanian duchy that Louis IX 
had permitted Henry III to retain half a century before. For 
these lands Edward, who was duke of Gascony, was the vassal 
of the French king. Philip the Fair treated his vassal in Gas- 
cony very much as King Edward treated his own vassal, King 
John JJalliol, though the English king, who was easily blinded 
by his own advantage, did not perceive the similarity. Philip 
had come into the possession of some of the frontier fortresses in 
Gascony and refused to return them. War was unavoidable, but 
with Scotland in rebellion, the time was anything but favorable. 

124. The "Model Parliament." 1295. 2 King Edward now 
called on all the nation to help provide funds for the wars that 
The Model were in prospect. All classes of society that had 
Parliament. wealth and all the organized communities that had 
authority to make assessments were called into 
parliament ; this was the so-called "Model Parliament, " though 
the name is hardly appropriate, as no subsequent parliament was 
just like the model of Edward's reign. It was a large body that 
Edward assembled in 1295. The earls and the barons appeared 
in person. The higher church officials, the bishops, the abbots, 
the archdeacons, and the priors of the cathedral chapters also 
attended in person ; the lower clergy sent proctors or repre- 
sentatives. The shires were represented by 74 knights and the 
boroughs by 220 burgesses. It is not known how this body 
transacted its business or whether it sat in a single house. 
Parliament was still in the process of formation and had no 
definite field of activities ; this parliament was 

Taxation. ... 

called to grant funds to meet an unusual situation. 
The king was successful in his negotiations with the lords and the 

1 Innes, I, 146-147. 2 Review sec. 99. 



THE TROUBLE WITH BONIFACE VIII 141 

representative members : each particular class voted a fraction 
of its personal property to the king's use : the nobles and the 
knights from the counties offered an eleventh, the church a 
tenth, and the merchants from the boroughs a seventh. 

125. The Conquest of Scotland. 1296. The next year 
King Edward attacked the northern kingdom, deposed John 
Balliol, and proclaimed himself king of Scotland. For ten 
years Edward ruled as sole king in the British u . 
Islands. To symbolize the union of the crowns, England and 
the Stone of Scone, on which the Scotch kings Scotland - 
had long been crowned, was carried off to England and placed 
in the seat of the throne in Westminster Abbey where it still 
remains. An English regent was left in Scotland to represent 
Edward's authority. For a time the Scotch nobles acquiesced 
in these agreements, but their loyalty was of doubtful character. 

126. The Trouble with Boniface VIII: "Clericis laicos." 
The trouble with France was still unsettled, and Edward soon 
found himself in need of more money. Instead of calling 
another parliament, he tried to secure funds by making private 
arrangements with the merchants and the church for aid. On 
the papal throne at this time sat Boniface VIII, p apacv and 
an aged and unbending Italian, who clung to the church taxa- 
principles of Gregory VII and Innocent III l lon * 
without realizing that it would be most inexpedient to make 
them practical issues. In 1296 Boniface issued a famous bull, 
the Clericis laicos, in which the old claims to supe- The bull 
riority were restated, and the clergy forbidden to Clericis 
contribute money on the king's demand. The a - tcos ' 

bull had its effect : when a new parliament was called later in 
the year to vote taxes, the archbishop of Canterbury resisted 
and the church did not contribute. In reply the king with- 
drew the protection of his courts from the clergy, thus virtually 
outlawing the entire clerical order. An agreement was soon 
reached, however, according to which the clergy were to give 
voluntary gifts but not pay taxes. These " gifts" were as- 

1 Review sees. 54-55, 86. 



1 42 THE WAR WITH FRANCE 

sessed by church councils called convocations that were sum- 
moned whenever the king called a parliament. Of these con- 
vocations there were two, one for each of the two provinces, 
Canterbury and York. This arrangement was the rule for 
more than two centuries. The clergy withdrew permanently 
from parliament. The bishops and many of the abbots con- 
tinued to hold membership, but they sat as lords, not as repre- 
sentatives of the church. 

127. The Rebellion of William Wallace. 1 The conquest 
of Scotland had been marked by much unnecessary severity 
and cruelty, and Edward's commissioners showed little tact 
in administering the government. Aroused by these wrongs, 
the Scotch nation revolted. William Wallace, a Scotchman of 
Wallace's gentle though not noble blood, led the rising. The 
rising. aristocracy held aloof from the movement ; but 
the national church, which feared subjection to the archbishop 
of Canterbury, aided the revolt. At Stirling Wallace's ragged 

followers routed an English army (1207). Wallace 

Stirling. 1297. . , , . t. 1 j / 

now carried the war into England and ravaged the 

northern shires. Edward hurried back from France and took 

command in person. At Falkirk Wallace suffered a disastrous 

defeat and his influence began to wane ; some 
Falkirk. 1298. , , , „ . . , , , , , U ,- 1 

years later he tell into the hands 01 the English 

government and was executed as a traitor. 

The rebellion continued for six years after the battle of 

Falkirk, but when the second conquest was completed, Edward 

at once proceeded to annex Scotland to England. 
Scotland f. . . . _ _ . b . 

annexed to * It was his intention to retain Scotch laws and 

England. institutions as far as practicable, but the parlia- 

1304-1305. _„ . ^ . ' 

ment at Westminster was to be made up 01 repre- 
sentatives from both kingdoms. It is interesting to note that 
the final union of England and Scotland four centuries later 
followed the lines laid down by Edward I (1305). 

128. The Rebellion of Robert Bruce. It was now fifteen 
years since Edward had been invited to intervene in the matter 

1 Gardiner, 221-222; Lines, I, 148-152. 



THE REBELLION OF ROBERT BRUCE 



H3 



of the Scotch succession. During these years much had oc- 
curred to sow hatred for the English king in Scottish hearts. 
There was, however, no leader around whom the northern 
magnates were willing to rally. But the next year the leader 
appeared in Robert Bruce, the young grandson of RobertBruce 
the aged Bruce who had claimed the thfone in 
1291. 1 In 1306 Bruce took up the sword and demanded the 
crown. He was 
young, strong, ag- 
gressive, and per- 
sistent, a chief 
with something of 
the heroic in his 
make-up. But even 
with a leader like 
Bruce the Scotch 
were slow to rally. 
The nobles were dis- 
trustful and jealous 
of the young pre- 
tender ; he had sev- 
eral times broken 
his oath to King 
Edward; he had 
slain a fellow-claim- 
ant ; his following 
was therefore small. 
Only one national 
force, the Scotch 
church, continued 
to favor revolt. 

Bruce was formally crowned king, but so weak was his support 
that he soon found himself a fugitive in his own kingdom. 

The strongholds of Scotland were in English hands, but the 
garrisons were so small that, in their efforts to reduce them, 

1 Innes, I, 152-155. 




The Bruce Statue, Stirling 



144 



THE WAR WITH FRANCE 



Bruce and his followers had no need of large forces. 1 But 
Death of Ed- soon Edward appeared on the southwest border 
ward I. 1307. w j t j 1 a powerful army, and prospects looked gloomy 
for the young rebel, when the great king suddenly died and the 
advance into Scotland was halted and given up (1307). 




Edward II. 



129. The Battle of Bannockburn. The death of Edward 
secured the independence of Scotland. His successor, Edward 
II, was an incompetent king, who permitted him- 
self and the kingdom to be ruled by worthless 
favorites. This disgusted the English barons who regarded 
themselves as the true counselors of the king. Under such 
conditions all plans for the reconquest of Scotland had to be 
postponed. 

Meanwhile, Bruce and his men carried on a series of success- 
ful attacks on the castles and strongholds that were still in 
English possession, until after six years Stirling, a position of 
great strength and strategic importance at the entrance to the 
Highlands, alone remained in the enemy's hands. The siege 

1 Kendall, No. 29. 



THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN 



H5 



of Stirling awakened the English, and Edward II made prepa- 
rations to succor the garrison and reduce the country. With 
a vast army of more than 50,000 men the English king appeared 
in the neighborhood of Stirling in June, 13 14. Robert Bruce 
with a force only one-third as large took up a position behind 




Stirling Castle 

Stirling is situated at the gateway into the Highlands and is a strategic 
point of great importance. 



the little stream of Bannockburn, 1 a few miles southeast of 
Stirling. The field was well chosen, for in addi- Battle of 
tion to the stream in front the Scotchmen had a Bannockburn. 
swamp on either side, which made a successful at- 
tack on the enemy's part very difficult. In the battle that 
followed, the English host suffered an overwhelming defeat. 
Scotland secured her freedom and her nationality, and Robert 
Bruce secured his throne. 

1 Cheyney, No. 134; Gardiner, 226; Innes, I, 155-159; Tuell and Hatch, No. 24 
(Burns, Scots who, hae). The selections from Cheyney and Innes are from differ- 
ent chronicles. See also Bates and Coman, 100-106 (Scott, Lord of the Isles, Canto VI) . 



146 THE WAR WITH FRANCE 

130. Edward II Deposed: the Rule of Mortimer. The 

defeat at Bannockburn completely discredited the government 
of Edward II. The rule of England fell into the hands of the 
chief nobles, but their selfishness and incompetence were so 
Misrule in great that the nation fared even worse for the 
England. change. After much strife and turmoil the king 

once more got the upper hand ; but his devotion to his favor- 
ites alienated all the classes that were of any importance in 
the state. In 1325 Isabella, the queen, a French princess of 
low character, found a pretext for a journey to her relatives in 
France, where she was joined the next year by her eldest son 
Roger Edward. A conspiracy was formed of which the 

Mortimer. queen and Roger Mortimer, a wealthy nobleman 
from the Welsh March, were the chief members. In 1326 
the conspirators arrived in England with a foreign host. A 
parliament was summoned a few months later (1327) which 
compelled the king to abdicate in favor of his son Edward. 
Not long afterwards Edward II was murdered. 

The rule of the conspirators was brief. The great problem 
was what attitude the government should take toward Scot- 
land : the English refused to recognize the independence of the 
Scotch, but were unable to stop their raids across the border. 1 
Finally in 1328, Roger Mortimer made peace and 
acknowledged the independence of Robert Bruce's 
kingdom to the great disgust of the English. Not long after- 
wards he, too, was slain, the victim of a conspiracy which in- 
cluded the young prince. Edward III, who had 
been nominally king for a year and was already 
a husband and father, though only in his sixteenth year, now 
began his long and adventurous reign of fifty years. 

131. The Hundred Years' War: the Succession in France. 
Thirty years of intermittent warfare with their neighbors to 
the south had unified the Scottish people and intensified their 
passion for nationality. And what is more important for 
English history, it led them to seek allies elsewhere : a close 

1 Innes, 164-166. 



THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 147 

relationship sprang up between Scotland and France which 
endured for nearly three hundred years. Morti- Alliance of 
mer's treaty was of short duration : war with Scotland and 
Scotland soon broke out again, but the new war- rance - 
fare came to be closely associated with another and greater 
conflict, the Hundred Years' War with France. This was 











jM fc^» ^nflm 




Iran 




^jjgg|gP?jg|^*«>- *^~j£^f Jk"I 








H^i^HA' mS* ' ftSra 




l v !HiJ 


"Mil - - <- •* ^ m 








H lui Ajfej 


Hr; r** f ' 'iV 


It » > &j 


rTTt Mmi 





Melrose Abbey 

The heart of Robert Bruce was buried in this monastery. From a photograph 
by W. H. Dudley. 

rather a series of wars, which with long periods of merely pas- 
sive hostilities continued for more than a century, till final 
peace was made in 1453. 

The dispute that introduced this war began in 1328, the 
year of the truce with Scotland, when the direct male line of 
the French dynasty expired and a representative of a collateral 
branch of the family inherited the kingship. Three The French 
brothers, the sons of Edward I's old enemy, Philip succession, 
the Fair, had successively mounted the French throne and 



148 



THE WAR WITH FRANCE 



died leaving no sons. 1 On the death of the third and last, 
Edward III (or rather his advisers in the government, as the 
king himself was a mere youth) thought seriously of claiming 
the French crown for himself as the heir of his mother Isabella, 
who was a daughter of Philip the Fair. But the claim, for which 
there was no legal basis, was not pressed, and Edward, as lord 
of Gascony, rendered the usual homage to the new king of 
France, Philip VI. 2 

132. Difficulties in Gascony and Flanders. Ten years 
passed without any attempt to revive the claim. Conditions 
were such, however, that war with France was almost inevitable. 
The Gascon The French king was anxious to get rid of power- 
problem. f u i vasS als like Edward of Gascony, and eagerly 
sought a pretext for depriving him of his rights on French soil. 
Edward III on his side protested against the aid that France 
continued to render to his Scotch enemies. But more im- 
portant than either of these considerations were the trade 
relations that existed between England and Flanders. 

The Low Countries, or the modern kingdoms of the Nether- 
lands and Belgium, were, in the fourteenth century, a group of 
more than a dozen little states, whose only bond of union was 
geographical. Nearly all of these were dependencies of the 
German kingdom ; but Flanders, the most important member 



The problem of the succession to the French throne in 1328: 

Louis IX (Saint Louis), 
1226-1270 

I 
Philip III, 
1270-1285 



Philip IV, the Fair, 
1285-1314 



I 
Louis X, Isabella = Edward II 
1314-1316 I 

Edward III 
of England 
Daughter 



Gardiner, 232. 



Philip V, .Charles IV, 
1316-1322 1322-1328 



Daughters Daughter 



Charles, count of Valois 



Philip VI, 
1328-1350 



John II, 
1 „s 50-1 364 



Charles V, Philip, 

1364-1380 founder of 
the Bur- 
gundian 
house 



DIFFICULTIES IN GASCONY AND FLANDERS 149 

of the group, was a French fief governed by a count. In 
Flanders a number of cities had grown up, which 
were among the chief industrial and commercial 
centers of Europe. The most important industry of the time 
was the manufacture of cloth, for which the Flemings needed 
English wool. Between these wealthy Flemish towns and 
the English kingdom there were consequently important 
economic bonds. Neither side could afford to offend the other, 
for the Englishman was as anxious to sell his wool as the Flem- 
ing was to purchase it. 1 

While drawn to England for economic reasons, the Flemings 
were chronically hostile to France for political reasons. The 
cities claimed a large measure of self-government, The En H - 
far more than their rightful but indiscreet ruler, wool trade 
the count of Flanders, was willing to grant. In in anders - 
his trouble with the rebellious merchants the count had the 
active support of his overlord, the king of France. In 1328 
the new king induced the count to arrest all the English mer- 
chants in Flanders. It will be remembered that Edward III 
was at this time putting forward a hesitating claim to the 
French crown. Edward's reply to the count's attack on the 
merchants was to forbid the exportation of English wool. 
The result was economic distress in the Dutch towns and in- 
creased hostility to the French overlord, who had ruined their 
industry and their trade. 

The Flemish merchants wished to be loyal to the king of 
France, but not to Philip VI who was then on the throne. 
They approached Edward III with the proposition that he 
should claim the throne of France, and promised to accept and 
support him as the true king. 2 In this way they fancied that 
their oaths and pledges of loyalty would remain unbroken. 
The plan was one that appealed mightily to the English king, 
for Edward III was a knight rather than a states- Personality of 
man. In many respects he resembled Richard I : Edward IIL 
he was a strong, well-built, and handsome man of twenty-five 

i Innes, Industrial Development, 78. 2 Cheyney, 236-238. 



i5° 



THE WAR WITH FRANCE 



FRANCE in 1328 

Scale of Miles 



50 50 100 

I I French Holdings Ut the Accession, 
° J of the House, of 

PP English Holdings [Valois 1328 



<**, 



taLais <v 



GOLDSCHMIOTJ 



Bournes, 




$4$ 



Rgug oSommercux 
iParis 



Troyes 



Nev 



■ 48" 



Dijow^ 



ers 




Lyons of 



\ SA 



\ic/now/o 



Toulouse 




WhsI 2 "from Greenwich 0° 



THE ENGLISH SEIZE CALAIS 151 

years when this temptation came; he loved the battlefield 
and honored chivalry ; he was kind and courteous to all who 
were of noble blood; but in the masses, the merchants, the 
artisans, and the villeins, he was interested only as they might 
contribute to his power. It was, indeed, a tremendous under- 
taking for the king of a nation that scarcely counted more than 
three or four million inhabitants to cross the sea and force his 
will upon a country that probably counted twenty millions. 

But the English statesmen assented to the plan, -. . , . 

a ' .Edward claims 

and in 1337 Edward formally laid claim to the the French 
crown of France. But this claim must be regarded cr0WI1, 1337 ' 
as a pretext merely : Edward was ambitious to rule his Gascon 
territories in full sovereignty and the English merchants were 
anxious to place the Gascon and Flemish trade on a more 
secure footing. These were the chief causes of the Hundred 
Years' War. 

133. The Battles of Sluys and Crecy. Hostilities began in 
a small way the next year ; and two years later, 1340, the 
English won an important naval victory at Sluys 

off the Dutch coast. But not before 1346 did the 
English make any serious attempt to invade France. The 
French king had been fairly successful in his attempt to conquer 
Gascony, and in that year he collected a vast army for a final 
effort. To draw the French away from the southwest, Edward 
crossed the Channel with a strong force and landed in Nor- 
mandy. Failing in his attempt to reduce the Norman strong- 
holds, he turned rapidly eastward in the direction of Flanders. 

When not far from Calais, he was confronted bv 

„ , : . : Crecy. 1346. 

a large French army and forced to make a stand. 

In the resulting battle of Crecy, 1 Edward won a decisive victory, 

and for a time Gascony was secure from French invasion. 

134. The English Seize Calais. 2 1347. From Crecy Ed- 
ward proceeded to Calais, which he besieged and forced to 

1 Cheyney, No. 138; Gardiner, 240-242; Innes, I, 166-173; Kendall, No. 30; Tuell 
and Hatch, No. 25. The selections in the source books are all from Froissart. 

2 Innes, I, 173-178; Tuell and Hatch, No. 26. 



i5 2 



THE WAR WITH FRANCE 




Drawbridge 

Fourteenth century. 



surrender the following year. The seizure of Calais was the 
Siege of most important event of the earlier period of this 

Calais. } on g war Calais was the nearest Continental port 

and was only a few miles distant from the friendly cities of 

Flanders : it, therefore, formed a 
most excellent base from which 
to direct further operations 
against France. King Edward 
at first threatened to take the 
lives of the stubborn citizens, 
but the prayers of Queen Philippa 
availed, and there were no exe- 
cutions. But all the inhabitants 
who refused to sw r ear allegiance 
to the conqueror were driven 
from the city and English colo- 
nists took their places. In this way Calais became virtually 
an English city and remained an English outpost and a sore 
irritation to France for more than two hundred years. 

135. Suspension of Hostilities; the Battle of Poitiers. For 
the following nine years there was an almost complete suspen- 
Efforts of the s ^ on °^ ac tive hostilities, and strong efforts were 
pope to se- made to reach an agreement and close the struggle. 
During the fourteenth century the popes, who 
were French, had left Rome and had taken up their abodes in 
the beautiful city of Avignon on the French frontier, though 
outside the French kingdom. The Avignonese popes were 
anxious to bring the belligerents to terms, as the w r ar seri- 
ously interfered with the prosperity of the church, especially 
on the financial side ; for the English disliked to send reve- 
nues to a French papal court, whose sympathies and bless- 
ings were presumably given to the side of the national enemy. 
Papal mediation availed nothing, however; especially did the 
claim of Edward to the throne of France prove a persistent 
difficulty. 

But what the pope was unable to accomplish, an awful 



THE TREATY OF BRETIGNY 153 

visitation known as the Black Death succeeded in bringing 
about. With death in every household in western The Black 
Europe, the warring kings did not have the heart Death - 
to continue the conflict. France especially was sorely stricken : 
to the desolation caused by hostile armies were now added the 
terrors of the pestilence. King Edward was at last willing to 
resign his pretended claims to the French crown, if he might 
be permitted to retain Gascony, not as a vassal of the French 
king but as an independent sovereign. The French, how- 
ever, would not consent to the complete surrender of these 
territories and insisted on homage. In 1356 the war was 
renewed. Edward III took practically no part in this war, as 
he was busy with the Scotch who, as allies of the French, had 
once more crossed the border. It was fought in The war in 
the southwest of France by Edward's oldest son, Aqmtaine. 
Edward the Black Prince, 1 as he was called from the color of 
his armor. The prince had been made governor of Aquitaine 
and on the renewal of hostilities he led a raid into central 
France. On the return to his capital Bordeaux, Poitiers, 
he was met by a large French force at Poitiers, 1356 - 
where the results of Crecy were repeated. Nearly 5000 French 
knights lay dead on the battlefield or were taken prisoners by 
the victorious English. 

136. The Treaty of Bretigny. At Poitiers the French king, 
John, and one of his sons fell into the hands of the English, and 
it was now possible to resume negotiations with more hope of 
a favorable outcome. The defeats of the war had resulted in 
the break-up of armies and the formation of lawless bands 
that preyed on the peasantry and threw the nation into com- 
plete anarchy. Immediate peace was necessary, The treaty of 
and the war closed with the treaty of Bretigny on Bretigny. 
the terms that had been proposed earlier : Edward 
III gave up his claims to the French crown and King John 
released him from homage for Gascony, which now became an 
independent duchy wholly separate from France (1360). 

1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 27. 



J 54 



THE WAR WITH FRANCE 




FRANCE 

at the 

TREATY OF BRETIGNY 

1360 

Scale of Miles 



Possessions ot'lht En<jli>h kinii 
by the treaty of Bretigny. 
• March of Edward M, 134S. 



0° East from Greenwich 2 C 



SUMMARY 155 

137. Decline of English Power in Aquitaine. The treaty 
was, however, scarcely more than a temporary truce. So 
long as the English remained in Aquitaine, the French kings 
could not be expected to lay down their arms, and very soon the 
strife was renewed. Edward III was now advancing into 
premature old age, — he was becoming feeble both in body 
and in mind. At the same time a most capable king, Charles 
the Wise, ascended the throne in France. Condi- Failure of the 
tions became more and more unfavorable for the English in 
English. Edward the Black Prince, who had Gascon y- 
shown such genius and bravery on the field of battle, did not 
prove to be a wise governor. He tried to interfere in Spanish 
affairs and taxed the Aquitanians heavily to pay for a fruitless 
expedition across the Pyrenees. Revolts broke out in various 
parts of his duchy, in suppressing which he displayed a cruel 
strain in his character that has defaced an otherwise fair reputa- 
tion : in the rebellious city of Limoges more than Massacre at 
3000 were put to the sword in one day. In 13 71 Lim <>ges. 
the prince, broken in health, left Aquitaine and returned to 
England, where he died five years later. When Edward Ill's 
reign closed in 1377, the English kings scarcely retained more 
territory in southwestern France than the city of Bordeaux, 
which remained loyal because the connection with England was 
likely to bring commercial profit. The wines of Bordeaux 
were famous even in that day ; but in France they had to 
compete with the products of Burgundy and the Rhine coun- 
try, especially with those of Champagne. England, however, 
produced no wines, and so long as the English kings had terri- 
tories in Gascony, the merchants of Bordeaux would enjoy a 
monopoly of the English wine trade. 

138. Summary. The three Edwards ruled England for a 
little more than a century. It was a period when foreign 
affairs occupied a very prominent place in the Foreign pol j cy 
thoughts of the English nation. Three purposes of the three 
dominated and directed the foreign policy of the w r 
kings and statesmen of the period: (1) they wished to consoli- 



156 THE WAR WITH FRANCE 

date Britain by uniting Wales and Scotland with England and 
Ireland into a single monarchy ; (2) they wished to secure full 
sovereignty for the English king in Gascony ; (3) they wished 
to make sure of a market for English products in Flanders. 
These purposes led to nearly a century of almost constant 
warfare. It was a period of many great battles, an age that 
produced a number of heroic figures ; but in the end little was 
gained for England. Wales was conquered, but Scotland was 
lost. The king gained complete control of Gascony, but when 
Edward III died, most of his Gascon lands had been seized 
by Charles the Wise. With respect to the Flemish markets 
England was more successful ; for some time there was a 
close alliance between England and the manufacturing towns 
of Flanders. In the next century, however, this connection 
was broken ; meanwhile, the manufacture of woolen cloth had 
been introduced into England, and the time was coming when 
the island would not be in such great need of Flemish markets. 

REFERENCES 

The final conquest of Wales. — Edwards, Story of Wales, cc. x-xi; 
Innes, History of England, 122-126; Jenks, Edward Plantagenet, c. viii; Oman, 
History of England, 153-157; Tout, Edward I, c. vi. 

Methods of warfare in the thirteenth century. — Fletcher, Intro- 
ductory History of England, I, i, 231-236. 

William Wallace. — Brown, Short History of Scotland, 134-147; Innes, 
135-137; Jenks, 281-295; Lang, Short History of Scotland, c. vii; Maxwell, 
Bruce^ cc. v-vi. 

Bruce and Bannockburn. — Brown, 147-168; Innes, 137-138, 141-145; 
Lang, c. viii; Maxwell, cc. vi-vii, ix; Oman, 169-170, 174-176. 

The era of victories in France. — Ashley, Edivard III and His Wars; 
Cheyney, Short History of England, 233-242; Fletcher, 253-264, 268-272; 
Gardiner, Student's History of England, 235-243, 251-254; Innes, 154-160; 
Oman, 183-195; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 210-219; Froissart's 
Chronicle. 






CHAPTER VII 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION 

139. An Age of Revolution: the Reign of Richard II, 1377- 
1399. The second half of the fourteenth century was a period 
of great and far-reaching social and political Socia i changes 
changes. English society was being transformed in the four- 
at its very foundations ; the center of authority teenth century - 
in the English constitution was shifting from kingship to 
parliament ; serfdom was disappearing and the economic 
system of the nation was being rebuilt on a new basis ; heresy 
threatened to disrupt the English church. These develop- 
ments are often associated with the reign of Richard II (1377- 
1399) ; but they began long before and continued far into the 
fifteenth century. 

140. The Hundred Years' War and the Wool Trade. One 
of the principal factors in this series of movements was the 
war with France. The victories of Sluys, Crecy, and Poitiers 
meant much for the prestige and glory of England, . 
but these were frail rewards : English success was n ings of 

won at a terrible cost in blood and treasure, woolen manu- 
factures. 
Nevertheless, the struggle was not without advan- 
tages to the English people, though these were chiefly indirect. 
It was during the reign of Edward III that the manufacture of 
woolen cloth in England had its beginnings. Edward I had en- 
couraged trade, particularly the commerce in wool, Flem i sn 
which was the staple product of the kingdom. He weavers in 
encouraged Flemish weavers to settle in England ng a 
and set up their looms in the great English wool district, which 
comprised the old East Anglian country and adjacent terri- 

i57 



i58 



SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION 



tories. The Hundred Years' War in which the Flemings 
were involved made it easy to induce the weavers to come. 1 
From this time on, England dealt in cloth as well as in raw 
wool. From these small beginnings in the fourteenth century 
has grown the greatest system of manufactures in the entire 
world. 



"-Mar- 




The Chief Wool-raising Districts in England 

and Wool -manufacturing Towns in the Netherlands 

Scale of Miles 




0° East from Greenwich 2 ° 



141. The Development of Foreign Commerce. 2 In addition 
to wool, England produced leather, tin, and lead in consider- 
Medieval a ^ e quantities, most of which found markets 

ideas of abroad. It was believed in the later middle 

ages that the wealth of the country consisted 
chiefly in gold and silver ; since a man who had money could 
purchase whatever he wished, it seemed evident to the statesmen 

1 Innes, Industrial Development, 82. 2 Ibid., 70-72, 76-S0. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF FOREIGN COMMERCE 



J 59 



of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries that the real purpose 
of foreign trade must be to bring the precious metals into the 
country. It was, therefore, held necessary to regulate com- 
merce in such a way that only a part of English products should 
be exchanged for foreign goods. The English merchant who 
sold his wool in Flanders was forbidden to take Flemish cloth 
in exchange for the full value of his wares ; a part must be paid 




The Steelyard in the Seventeenth Century 
The headquarters of the Hanse Merchants in London, 1 250-1597. 

in gold or silver. This regulation was, of course, difficult to 
enforce : for the English people had developed a strong taste 
for foreign products. As a result of the Flemish The import 
trade, the English were beginning to wear more trade - 
expensive clothes ; the old, coarse native cloth was giving way 
to the finer and more expensive fabrics of the Flemish looms. 
During the two hundred years of the crusades, the people of 
Britain had been introduced to the fashions and luxuries of the 
Orient. The Hundred Years' War in France did much to 
intensify the desire for the comforts that the English soldiers 
found abroad. These new wants were regarded as very ex- 
travagant by the moralists of the time. Carpets appear to 
have been seen in England for the first time in 1254, when 
Eleanor of Spain came to the country as the queen of Edward 



160 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION 

I. Matthew Paris tells us that her apartment was "hung 
with palls of silk and tapestry like a temple, and even the 
floor was covered with arras." This, however, was not agree- 
able to the simple tastes of the great historian, for he explains 
that "this was done by the Spaniards according to the custom 
of their country ; but this excessive pride excited the laughter 
and derision of the people." 

142. The Merchants of the Staple. 1 As a part of their 
plan to regulate the foreign trade, so that it might be produc- 
tive of the precious metals and bring revenues to the royal 
treasury, the English kings decreed that all the leading products 
of the land should be bought and sold in certain specified 
towns only; these were known as the "staple towns." The 
The "staple word staple came from a German word stapel, 
towns." meaning a heap, in this case a heap of wares ; 

next it came to be applied to a warehouse ; later to a market, 
and finally to the products that were bought and sold in these 
markets. A staple town had a market that was open the 
entire year ; it also could force all merchants that came that 
way to take their wares to the public market and offer them 
for sale. It is clear that if a certain line of trade could be 
limited to a small number of market towns, the law governing 
that trade could be quite easily enforced, and the collection of 
tariff duties would be a simple matter. 

In the thirteenth century it was customary to send all the 
chief exports of England to some city on the Continent, usually 
in the Netherlands; for a time Dordrecht in Holland had a 
monopoly of the English staples. After the taking of Calais 
this became an important staple town. But in 1291, Edward I 
Staple designated certain English towns which-were also 

products. to nave staple rights. The five great staple arti- 

cles were wool, woolfells, leather, lead, and tin. The merchants 
who dealt in these commodities were the "merchants of the 
staple." Edward III gave them the monopoly of the trade 
in certain other products, such as butter, honey, and tallow, 

.* Lines, Industrial Development, 81; Tuell and Hatch, No. 21 (Gibbins). 



MERCHANT GILDS AND CRAFT GILDS 161 

by adding these to the staple list ; but this arrangement was 
temporary only. 

143. Merchant Gilds and Craft Gilds. The development 
of trade led to the organization of a certain characteristic 
medieval institution, the gild. In Anglo-Saxon times groups 
of men frequently organized themselves into fraternities for 
social, charitable, or religious purposes ; these fraternities were 
called gilds. Later the merchants of a particular city banded 
themselves together in the same way for the pur- Merchant 
pose of promoting their business interests; this gllds - 
was called a merchant gild ; 1 and there could be only one in 
each borough. Still later, as trade and industry grew, the 
various crafts began to organize separate fraternities : thus 
the carpenters had their gild, the weavers theirs, 
and so on through all the trades or industrial 
occupations. 2 The tendency to organize the crafts into gilds 
is quite apparent in the reign of Edward I, and in the four- 
teenth century these fraternities became a powerful factor in 
industrial life. 

The gild system had its advantages and its disadvantages. 

The master workmen who composed the membership of each 

gild soon began to draw up very definite regulations 

for the trade concerned; these covered such sub- and disadvan- 

jects as materials to be used, weight and measure, ta , ges of the 
J ' & gild system, 

hours of labor, and the like, and each member 

watched his fellows closely to make sure that the rules were 

observed. 3 The buyer could then be sure that every article 

that bore the stamp of the gild was what it was claimed to be ; 

adulteration, short weight, and kindred faults were little known 

in the medieval crafts. But the system also made it exceedingly 

difficult for any one to engage in business or follow a trade 

who was not a member of the proper gild. No man could 

learn a trade except as an apprentice in the shop of some 

1 Cheyney, No. 120; Innes, Industrial Development, 62-69. 

2 Innes, Industrial Development, 62-69. 

3 Cheyney, Nos. 121-122 Robinson, No. 71; TueJl and Hatch, No. 22. 



162 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION 

master workman who belonged to the gild. The gilds also 
were able to control prices to a large extent, and usually fixed 
them with an eye to their own profit. It will be seen that 
the gilds in their small way combined the characteristics of 
the modern trust and the labor union : they controlled the 
manufacture, the prices, and the labor supply; and they 
determined the conditions under which industry was to be 
carried on. 

The chief, or governor, of a gild was usually called an alder- 
man. Time came when the government of many boroughs 
Borough fell i n a large measure into the hands of the gilds, 1 

government. anc [ t h e CO uncil that managed the affairs of the 
town was frequently made up of these aldermen. The men of 
the borough showed an early desire for self-government; but 
this privilege was one that the king was not likely to grant 
unless he was paid for it. The merchants were the class 
that could best afford to pay for this privilege, and so it came 
about that the merchants frequently secured a charter from 
the king that permitted the borough to manage its own 
affairs and allow the merchant gild to control the trade of 
Borough the city. Such charters were granted as early 

charters. as ^q reign of Henry I and the privilege was 

sold quite freely after the accession of Richard I. The 
twelfth century was the great age of the merchant gild. In 
the reign of Edward III, however, its importance was on the 
decline, and the craft gilds were taking its place. During the 
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the government of the 
cities and boroughs came almost entirely into the hands of 
these gilds. 

144. The Development of Tariff Duties: Tunnage and 
Poundage. It was in this period, too, that England first 
developed a regular system of tariff duties. In the middle 
ages the freedom to carry on trade in a larger way seems to 
have been regarded, not as a right, but as a privilege that ought 
to be paid for. Merchants, and especially alien merchants, had 

1 Innes, Industrial Development, 59-60. 



MEDIEVAL ARMIES 163 

consequently long been subject to certain local dues, collected 
sometimes by the municipal authorities of the port Medieval 
or market town where the wares were unloaded or tariff duties 
offered for sale, and sometimes by lords or other important men 
who levied tolls on the trade of their localities or for the use of 
roads and routes that had come into their control. In the 
thirteenth century the central government began to " regulate" 
trade and to take over these customary local dues, which now 
became a tax payable to the king. This tax was not regularly 
imposed, however, and its legality was often in dispute, as 
the king frequently charged "evil tolls," or more than was 
customary. The first general levy of such duties in the 
fourteenth century came in 1347, the year after the battle of 
Crecy, when a tax of two shillings on every tun of wine and of 
six pence on every pound's value of other forms of imported 
merchandise was agreed to by parliament. This tax was 
henceforth known as tunnage and poundage. Tunnage and 
The financial needs of the warlike monarch led to P° unda ge. 
further levies by the king without the permission of parliament : 
the result was much complaint on the part of the merchants 
and consequent disputes between the king and parliament. 
The outcome was that while the king was allowed revenue 
from this source, the rates were to be determined by parlia- 
ment. At first tunnage and poundage was granted for a fixed 
number of years ; but in the next century it became customary 
to make the grant once for all to continue to the close of 
the reign. 

145. Medieval Armies. The armies of the middle ages 
were commonly small bodies of knights and their attendants 

who served for a limited period at their own ex- ~. . - „ . 

r ine armies 01 

pense ; but a war of invasion could not be carried the fourteenth 
on with such forces. Edward III needed a vol- cen ury ' 
untary army that would be willing to remain in the field till 
the campaign closed. It seems that every man in the English 
host was paid a daily wage ranging from two pence to two 
shillings a day ; these seem small sums, but they would prob- 



1 64 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION 

ably purchase twenty or thirty times as much as the same 
amount in our own country at present. It is also true that 
the shilling of the reign of Edward III contained at least twice 
as much silver in weight as the English shilling of our own time. 
The army was raised by the contract system : the king ar- 
ranged with different lords of prestige and influence that they 
Classes of were to raise bodies of men and to see to their 
soldiers. wages, provisions, and equipment. Three classes 

of soldiers made up the forces: the men-at-arms (knights), 
the archers, and the knife men, whose chief duty seems to 
have been to kill the enemy's horses and to slaughter wounded 
Frenchmen. 

146. The Growth of Parliamentary Power. 1 Trouble came 
when the king was called on to pay the lords who had recruited 
the forces, for the war proved more expensive than had been 
anticipated. It was held in the middle ages that the king 
The king's should "live of his own," which meant that the 
customary customary revenues that came to him from his 
revenues. demesne lands, from his feudal tenants, from fines, 

and from tariff dues and the like were really all that the king 
had a right to collect and with these he was supposed to carry 
on the government as best he could. But foreign warfare 
soon brought the royal treasury to the verge of bankruptcy. 
There was nothing for Edward to do but to summon parliament ; 
and this body was called year after year to provide funds for 
the war chest. The result was that in this way parliamentary 
1340. control over finance came to be established for 

_ ,. all time. In 1340 (the year of the victory of 

Parliamentary ( a + * 

control of Sluys) Edward was forced to grant as a new 

taxation. principle of government that no taxes should be 

imposed without parliamentary consent. This was followed 

by the demand that parliament should also be allowed to 

appropriate the funds for definite purposes to which 

alone they could be applied. 2 The king also agreed 

to this (1353). During the same period parliament also began 

1 Masterman, 69-77. 2 Cheyney, No. 164. 



ENGLAND AND THE PAPACY 165 

to examine the accounts of the government to determine how 
the money was spent and whether it had been used as parlia- 
ment had directed. The commons, as the chief 

. . . Money bills 

contributors to the royal treasury, also claimed to originate 

that all money bills should originate in their house; in the house 
, . . . , r „ , , of commons, 

but this principle was not formally accepted by 

the king before the next century (1407). These four princi- 
ples — that parliament should control taxation, 

. . 1407. 

examine the accounts, and make definite appropria- 
tions, and that all financial legislation should originate in the 
house that is most nearly representative of the people — have 
passed into practically all the constitutional systems of the 
world, including the American. Their origin lies in the finan- 
cial needs of the English king during the Hundred Years' 
War. 1 At one time this need was so great that Edward III 
had to mortgage his own person to the Dutch bankers ; but at 
the first opportunity the king broke faith by mounting his horse 
and galloping away from his insistent creditors. 

147. England and the Papacy. The Hundred Years' War 
was also to some extent responsible for a growing hostility 
♦ toward the papacy during the fourteenth century. In 1305 
the cardinals elected a Gascon archbishop as pope; The « Baby _ 
and for seventy years the church was governed by Ionian cap- 
French popes and cardinals. During this period tmty ' 
of the " Babylonian Captivity" of the church, the capital of 
the Catholic world was at Avignon in the Rhone valley. The 
Avignonese popes were suspected of being favorable to 
the French cause and consequently could not be popular in 
England. Three specific questions helped to intensify feeling 
against the court at Avignon and led to a series of anti- 
papal acts on the part of parliament. These were the sub- 
jects of the papal tribute, provisors, and appeals to the papal 
court. 

A few years before the war began (1333), England had sent 
her last installment of the tribute that John had promised the 

1 Innes, Industrial Development, 83-84. 



1 66 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION 

pope in 1213. 1 The pope made repeated efforts to collect the 

The tribute tribute in arrears but failed. After thirty-three 

of 1213. years of failure to pay, the English parliament 

repudiated the tribute entirely, declaring that John had no 

right to bind the nation to any such payment (1366). The 

repudiation was doubtless in part due to the finan- 
1 ^fifi 

cial difficulties of the crown and in part to a 

reluctance to pay tribute to a foreign power, which, to make 

matters worse, was French. 

148. The Statutes of Provisors and Praemunire. In 1351 
the Statute of Provisors 2 was passed to correct an evil that 
Statute of had become acute a century earlier in the days of 

Provisors. Henry III and Grosseteste. 3 In this act parlia- 

ment forbade the practice entirely and provided severe penalties 
for all who should accept offices in the church as papal pro- 
visors. The act was no doubt dictated by hostility to a French 
pope ; but the English might fairly plead the impossibility of 
accepting French church officials from Avignon while the 
war with France was still in progress. 

Two years later parliament passed the Statute of Praemunire, 
which forbade the king's subjects to take appeals to any foreign 
Appeals to court. The act was general, but it was clearly 
Rome forbid- aimed at the papacy. It would seem that disputes 
en ' ' could be settled more equitably in the country 

where they had arisen and where their merits were known than 
in distant Rome or Avignon. But the act did not grow out 
of any such consideration: its purpose was to reduce papal 
authority, and this it would have done very effectively, had 
enforcement been practicable. Both these statutes were 
reenacted and strengthened at later times, but neither was 
strictly enforced. The crown could not do without papal 
assistance when vacancies had to be filled in the church. As a 
rule the government continued to dictate the choice of bishops 
to the chapters, but the bishop-elect had to have his election 
confirmed at the papal curia before he could be consecrated ; 

1 Review sec. 86. 2 Cheyney, No. 145. 3 Review sec. 101. 



THE VILLEIN AS A WARRIOR: THE LONG BOW 167 

and the king could not afford to risk failure of confirmation by 
a too determined stand on the matters of provisors and appeals. 

149. The Disappearance of Villeinage. 1 The most signifi- 
cant fact in the social history of the period is the disappearance 
of the condition known as villeinage or serfdom. 2 For at 
least three centuries the mass of the rural population had been 
chained to the soil, each successive generation inheriting the 
duty of tilling the earth on the estate where it was born. But 
in the fourteenth century the villeins were develop- Weakening of 
ing an interest in the world beyond the boundaries serfdom. 

of the manor, and it became increasingly difficult to hold them 
to their inherited duties. 

There were several causes that led to the disappearance of 
villeinage. Of first importance were the great wars of the age. 
The vast military undertakings of Edward I and Edward III 
demanded more men than could be collected from the nobility 
and its force of retainers : consequently it became The vil i eins 
necessary to draw soldiers from the unprivileged employed in 
classes. The common farmer was found to be a war are * 
capable warrior, and, as a result, he came to have a value in 
the eyes of the state that he did not earlier possess. 

150. The Villein as a Warrior: the Long Bow. 3 As the 
typical weapon of the knight was the sword, that of the peasant 
was the bow. The long bow, which was the most effective 
weapon of the age, was very much like the kind The long 

of bow that the American Indian used with so bow - 
much skill : it was a piece of tough yew carefully strung with 
a strong cord, a weapon so well made, it is said, that a strong- 
armed archer could drive an arrow through an oaken plank 
three fingers thick. Ordinarily the arrow was drawn to the 
breast without much attempt at taking aim ; but the shaft 
sped to the mark with wonderful accuracy. At Crecy the 
French army was four times as large as the English and at 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 123-124; Innes, Industrial Development, 85-87. 

2 Review sec. 47. 

3 Cheyney, No. 141; see also Scott, Ivanhoe, c. 13 (archery contest). 



i68 



SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION 



Poitiers six times as numerous ; but the English archers secured 
the victory. 

The long bow seems to have come to England from the 
Welsh border. On the Continent the crossbow was a favorite 




Crossbow Used at Crecy 
The crossbow shot a winged bolt called a quarrel. 



weapon, and it had certain advantages, especially when careful 
aim was a consideration ; but the man with the long bow 
could shoot six arrows to every bolt that the crossbowman 
The cross could discharge, as his weapon was ready at all 

bow - times no matter how damp the weather might be. 

At Crecy many of the Genoese mercenaries in the French host 

found their cross- 
bows almost use- 
less because a 
recent rain had 
shrunk the bow 
strings. Warfare 
took the farmer 
away from his 
little manorial 
world and off into 
other lands where 
he learned new 
things and came 
into contact with 
new forms of civilized life. But the most important fact was 
that he began to realize his new importance in the state; and 




English Archers and Gunman of the Fifteenth 
Century 

From fifteenth century manuscripts. 



THE STATUTE OF LABORERS 169 

on his return he found it difficult to resume his former tasks 
in the old servile spirit. 

151. The Black Death. 1 A second cause was the great 
pestilence that passed over western Europe soon after the 
victory at Crecy. The Black Death was ap- The great 
parently what is to-day known as the bubonic P estll ence. 
plague, and had its immediate rise in the Orient. It followed 
the routes of commerce into all parts of western Europe ; to 
England it seems to have come from Flanders with returning 
soldiers. In 1348, the year after the fall of Calais, it appeared 
in southwestern England in Dorsetshire, whence it traveled 
eastward and northward the whole length of the island and 
across the sea to northern Europe. The mortality was fright- 
ful : in places half the population was stricken down. In the 
middle ages there was a popular notion that such calamities 

were sent from heaven and came as punishment ,, .. 

. Medieval 

for national sins : prayers, processions, and ex- attitude 

treme forms of penance, such as scourging, were toward great 

^ M1 r calamities, 

therefore the only effective means of stilling the 

divine wrath. But these measures, which brought the sick 

and well together in large throngs, were rather likely to spread 

the contagion. Furthermore, the hovels of the manorial 

villages were anything but sanitary habitations, and the death 

rate everywhere was abnormally large. 

152. The Statute of Laborers. 2 One result was that the 
manorial lord found large areas of his land lying untitled ; 
the farmers who escaped the plague were unable Scarcity of 
to cultivate the entire estate. Nor was it easy to labor - 
recruit the force farmers from other villages, as the same con- 
ditions obtained everywhere. Matters were further com- 
plicated by the dearth of labor in the growing boroughs, where 
the population also had been materially reduced. Many of 
the villeins left their homes in the country and settled in the 
towns, where they joined the industrial classes. 

1 Cheyney, No. 146 

2 Innes, Industrial Development, 88-90; Kendall, No. 33. 



170 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION 

The sudden activity in the labor market inevitably brought 
a demand for higher wages on the part of those whose time 
was at their own disposal. The employers soon began to 
complain that their workmen would no longer serve at the 
old rates and asked for a statute fixing a maximum wage. While 
the pestilence was still raging, the king's council issued an 
Wages fixed ordinance commanding the laborers to work for 
by statute. {he customary wages. Soon afterwards this ordi- 
nance was made a parliamentary statute and is known as the 
Statute of Laborers. The enforcement of the law was entrusted 
to special " justices of laborers " but after a time it was placed in 
the hands of the local justices of the peace. For 
some years the act seems to have been strictly ap- 
plied, and it was no doubt one of the chief grievances that 
led to the peasants' revolt thirty years later. 

153. The Enclosures. 1 These enactments, however, could 
not supply the lack of laborers. Rather than leave their lands 
lying untilled, many landlords decided to enclose their fields. 
By enclosure is meant the practice of surrounding a certain 
area of tilled land with a fence or hedge and turning it into 
Sheep a pasture for sheep. This was an old practice in 

farming. England which had grown steadily with the in- 

crease in the wool trade. As it was found that a greater 
income could be derived from these enclosed pastures than 
from fields that were cultivated in the old way, the landlords 
gladly enclosed their lands. So eager were many to enclose 
their fields that they dismissed the villeins whose families had 
held and tilled the land from time past all memory. Agricul- 
Effects of tural employment was thus lost to many, and they 

enclosing land. were forced to find work in the cities. It was not 
till the following century was well under way, however, that 
the practice of enclosing became particularly burdensome ; 
but then it became a problem of food as well as of employment ; 
for with the increase in sheep farming came a corresponding 
decrease in the production of grain; food became expensive, 

1 Innes, Industrial Development, 135-138. 



DISSATISFACTION WITH THE CHURCH 



171 



while wages in the overcrowded cities naturally sank to lower 
levels. 

154. Dissatisfaction with the Church: John Wy cliff e. The 

general dissatisfaction with the economic situation in the 

second half of the fourteenth 
century was soon paralleled 
by a revolutionary move- 
ment on the religious side. 
In the days of the great 
pestilence, John Wycliffe, 1 
a professor of theology at 
Oxford, was developing a 
set of heretical JohnWycliffe: 
opinions. Wy- his heretical 
cliffe was one opinions ' 
of the many Englishmen 
who disliked to render serv- 
ice and submission to the 
French pope. He was 
largely influential in the 
movement that abolished 
the papal tribute in 1366 : 
he furnished the argument 
that parliament used to 
justify the repudiation. Wycliffe also gradually came to doubt 
a large part of the medieval theological system. Especially 
important was his position on the subject of the Eucharist, 
or Lord's supper. For several centuries it had been the offi- 
cial belief of the church that when the priest consecrated the 
bread and wine that were used in the sacrament, they became 
the body and the blood of the Savior ; this doctrine was known 
as transubstantiation. Wycliffe rejected this belief and all that 
the doctrine might imply. As transubstantiation was a fun- 
damental tenet in the church, Wycliffe's position was distinctly 

1 Cheyney, No. 153. 




John Wycliffe 
From an engraving by Alexander Van Hecken. 



172 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION 

revolutionary. He also held peculiar views on the subject of 

social organization : he looked on all land from the 

opinions on feudal view-point, as held from some higher lord 

society and m re turn for service. But as it was inconceivable 
government. ,-,1111 tit • , . 

that God should want a disobedient sinner as his 

tenant or vassal, it was clear to Wycliffe that only the righteous 

were entitled to hold land. 1 For the churchmen he had only 

slight respect ; he charged the entire hierarchy from pope to 

priest with wickedness and sin. He also held that the friars 

were of little service to the world, and that the ascetic life of 

monks and nuns was less holy than the active life. For an age 

that believed in ascetic ideals, this was a hard doctrine. The 

patience of the church was at last exhausted, and 

1377. . 

in 1377 the pope ordered Wycliffe to be tried for 
heresy. He was tried twice, but no conclusion was reached. 

The English church was actually in a bad way. The black 
death had naturally caused a great mortality among the church- 
men. The monks, whose abodes were not always clean and 
Decline of sanitary, the friars who traveled widely through 
efficiency in the infected districts, and the village priest who 

ministered to the dying in his parish fell ready 
victims to the plague. The church was compelled to recruit 
her forces as best she could, and many were admitted to the 
priesthood who were scarcely more than youths, and moreover 
were lacking both in education and saintly character. To 
take up the work in parishes that were vacant or provided with 
indifferent service, Wycliffe sent out a number of itinerant 
The "poor preachers known in history as the "poor priests, 1 ' 
priests." many of whom were university men who had re- 

ceived his own teachings. In the church at large the situation 
was, if possible, worse than in England. In the year after 
Wycliffe's trial for heresy began the Great Schism, with two 
The Great popes, one at Avignon and the other at Rome, 
Schism. contending for supremacy in the western church. 

It is not surprising that the decree against the militant English- 

1 Gardiner, 261. 



THE GREAT REVOLT OF 1381 173 

man was ignored, for no one could now be sure where authority 
really resided. 

155. The "Good Parliament." 1376. During the closing 
years of Edward Ill's reign, there was, therefore, much dis- 
satisfaction — with the church, with the. government, with 
economic conditions, and especially with the heavy taxation 
that resulted from the wars in France. This discontent came 

out openly in the "Good Parliament" of 1376, 

, .,. rr .i r , . The Speaker, 

whose presiding officer, then for the first time 

called the Speaker, led the opposition to the government. 
Edward III, though not aged, was feeble in health ; his intel- 
lect was much impaired ; and he was controlled by wicked 
and incompetent favorites. As "the king can do no wrong," 
his acts could be reached only through his chief officials, and 
the Good Parliament is best known for introduc- 

, . . , ^ Impeachment, 

ing the practice of impeachment. Two men 

were charged with corruption by the commons and sent to the 

lords for trial. They were convicted, but as the government 

continued in the old hands, little improvement resulted. 

The next year King Edward died and was succeeded by his 

grandson, Richard II, a boy of ten years. For some time the 

government was in the hands of a group of nobles, Richard n . 

the chief of whom was the young king's uncle, John aristocratic 

of Gaunt. The evils in the administration persisted, ru e ' 

and the men who led the opposition in the Good Parliament were 

imprisoned. The war with France flared up again and led to a 

new grievance, a poll tax, which was levied on all, 

, , , • r \ t rr , The poll tax. 

both men and women, 01 the age 01 fifteen or above. 
The population was roughly classified according to rank and 
supposed abilities to pay, and were taxed accordingly, but all 
paid something, and the dues were rigorously collected. 

156. The Great Revolt of 1381. 2 The poll tax furnished 
the occasion for a wide-spread uprising on the part of the 

1 Cheyney, No. 165. 

2 Cheyney, No. 151 (Knighton); Gardiner, 268-270; Innes, Industrial Develop- 
ment, 91-96; Kendall, No. 34 (Froissart). 



174 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION 

peasantry, the great revolt of 1381. The peasants' revolt in 
many ways resembled a modern strike : it was an organized 
Grievances an< ^ somewhat violent movement to secure greater 

of the economic freedom for villeins and laborers. The 

villeins. • t-> t i • , 

grievances were many : English society was 

slowly passing through a change from compulsory dues and 
labor to money rents and hired labor. But the workingman 
was held by the laws fixing maximum wages, and many of the 
landlords insisted on collecting the old customary dues in 
labor and kind : l a cock and two hens at Christmas ; com- 
pulsory harrowing, mowing, harvesting, wood cutting, and the 
like ; two shillings at Easter and Michaelmas ; fees for per- 
mitting a villein's daughter to marry or his son to enter the 
clerical order. In their effort to strike off the shackles, the 
rebels terrorized the insistent landlords, persecuted the king's 
officials who had collected the poll tax in merciless fashion, 
slew lawyers who had assisted in enforcing the old manorial 
customs, and burned manorial records that might be used as 
evidence of dues and debts. 

The movement began at two different points, the old East 

Anglian counties and Kent, but finally spread to nearly all 

parts of the kingdom. The Kentishmen found 

aggressive leaders in Wat Tyler, whose particular 

Wat Tyler and grievance was the poll tax, and John Ball, 2 a 
John Ball. 6 , ^ ' . , . . 

pr est whose deas were distinctly communistic. 

The rioters finally decided to appeal to the government ; from 
Kent and Essex, from the southeast and the northeast, armies 
of discontented farmers marched upon London. The men 
from Kent seized London Bridge and entered the City, 
where they found sympathy among the laboring class, espe- 
cially among the apprentices. For some days London was at 
Rioting in the mercy of a riotous mob : John of Gaunt's 
London. palace was destroyed ; the Temple and the Inns of 

Court, where the lawyers had their schools and their head- 
quarters, were burned down ; several of the king's ministers 

1 Kendall, No. 32; Robinson, No. 69. 2 Cheyney, No. 150. 



THE REACTION AGAINST REFORM 175 

were slain ; and the Flemish weavers in the city were made 
to feel the wrath of the envious apprentices. 

The authorities treated with each force separately. At 
Mile End the king parleyed with the Essex men and made 
satisfactory promises, on the strength of which they returned 
home. The next day King Richard held a conference with the 
Kentishmen at Smithfield, and during an altercation with 
the lord mayor of London Wat Tyler was killed. l Death of 
With his death the movement disintegrated. Wat T y ler - 
The young king forgot all the promises that he had made ; 
. but the men in power did not neglect to take a bloody revenge, 
and for a time it looked as if the lot of the peasantry would be 
worse instead of better. The landlords, however, did. not dare 
to repeat the old harshness ; gradually improvements came 
and villeinage died out. 

157. The Reaction against Reform. A strong reaction set in 

after the peasants' revolt, a reaction that also extended to the 

religious field. Wycliffe and his followers came to be looked 

upon as dangerous agitators and were attacked on Attack on 

all sides. In the year after the riots, Wycliffe was Wycliffe, 

summoned before convocation to answer to the 

charge of heresy. He was convicted of twenty-four erroneous 

beliefs ; his works were ordered to be burned ; he was dismissed 

from his chair at Oxford and was compelled to retire to his 

parish at Lutterworth, where he died two years later. The 

last years of his life were spent largely in preparing an English 

translation of the Bible, but it is not likely that this work was 

circulated very widely until somewhat later. For the historian 

the translation is valuable chiefly as a literary document that 

shows the state of the English idiom in the four- 

1 TTT ,.„ , T „ The Lollards, 

teenth century. Wycliffe s party, the Lollards, 

survived for some time and probably never wholly died out in 

England before the Protestant revolt one hundred and fifty 

years later ; but in the next reign, persecution became severe 

and the strength of Lollardy was broken. In the wider field 

1 Innes, I, 200-204. 



176 



SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION 



of European history, Wycliffe is important as the intellectual 
father of John Huss, the Bohemian reformer. King Richard 
II's first queen was a Bohemian princess, and in the negotia- 
tions that preceded the 
marriage, the doctrines 
of Lollardy found their 
way to Prague. 

158. " Piers Plough- 
man" and Geoffrey 
Chaucer. Several other 
writers who flourished in 
the age of Wycliffe are 

The Vision also of g reat 

of Piers importance 

Ploughman. ag iUustrat _ 

ing not only the literary 
and linguistic situation 
in this century, but also 
the social, economic, and 
moral conditions. The 
Vision of Piers Plough- 
man, 1 the first install- 
ment of which appeared 
in 1362, is a poem that 

describes the misery of the poor and the vain ostentation of the 
rich. It seems to have been the work of several hands ; but 
William one of these melancholy singers appears to have 

Langiand. been one William Langland, who lived among the 
Malvern Hills on the Welsh border. He is thought to have 
been in some way associated with the religious profession, 
and apparently earned his living by singing at funerals. It is 
worth noting that Langland places the scene of his poem in a 
region that was not touched by the movements of 1381; per- 
haps we may infer from this that the troubles of the peas- 
antry were not limited to the east and southeast, and it is 

1 Gardiner, 258-259; Innes, I, 184-189. 




Geoffrey Chaucer 
From an engraving by Goldar. 



"PIERS PLOUGHMAN" AND GEOFFREY CHAUCER 177 



likely that in this border country conditions changed more 
slowly than in the regions nearer the capital. 

Geoffrey Chaucer lived under more favorable circumstances 
and gives us a far more agreeable picture of contemporary 
society. Chaucer was a soldier, a diplomat, and Geoffrey 
a poet. He was of the citizen class (his father Chaucer, 
was a London wine merchant), but he enjoyed the friendship of 
the great, even of 
royalty ; especi- 
ally was he fa- 
vored by John of 
Gaunt, whose 
third wife was the 
sister of Dame 
Chaucer. When 
John's son Henry 
ascended the 
throne as Henry 
IV, one of his first 
acts was to in- 
crease Chaucer's 
pension ; but the 
poet did not en- 
joy it long, for he 
died the follow- 
ing year (1400). 

About 1350 the 
Italian writer 
Boccaccio wrote 
the Decameron, 
a series of one hundred short stories that he pretended were 
told by ten Florentines who had fled into the coun- The Canter- 
try to escape the Black Death. It was this work buf y Tales - 
that suggested to Chaucer the form of the Canterbury Tales, 1 a 
collection of stories that were told by a company of pilgrims 

1 Gardiner, 270-272; Innes, I, 190-194. 




The "Wife of Bath." 
"Upon an amblere easily she sat 
Y-wimpled wel, and on hir heed an hat 
As brood as is a bokeler or a targe." 
-Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, Prologue, 11. 469-471. 



178 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION 

on a journey from Tabard Inn, Southwark, to the shrine of 
Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury. From these tales and 
especially from Chaucer's Prologue, we get an admirable picture 
of life among the more prosperous classes of the English com- 
monalty. Most of the lay members of the company Chaucer 
describes as excellent people, though some of them have their 
weaknesses. It is significant, however, that the clerical mem- 
bers do not all find favor in the poet's eyes. The prioress dressed 
in a very worldly fashion. The monk, too, loved fine clothes 
and "a fat swan loved he best of any roost ; " he also delighted 

r , ,„.,,, in horses and in the chase, but for monastic rules he 
Chaucer's atti- _ ' 

tude toward cared very little. The friar heard confession sweetly 
thecergy. and gave pleasant absolution ; " he knew the tav- 
erns well in every town," and was the best beggar of his order. 
The pardoner had a sack brimful of pardons "hot from Rome." 
But the "poor parson" was a man after Chaucer's own heart. 
He was patient, diligent, and devout; "riche in holy thought 
and work ; " and heedless of "pompe and reverence" — 

"But Christes lore, and his apostles twelve, 
He taughte, but first he followed it himselve." 

There was also an Oxford scholar l in the company who had 

the poet's sympathy. He was, if anything, poorer than the 

parson — • 

As lene was his hors as a rake, 

And he was nat right fat, I undertake." 

But this was because he was not sufficiently worldly to get an 
office in the church. The Prologue was written a few years 
after the death of John Wycliffe. It is clear that the English 
people were much displeased with the church and the clergy ; 
but conditions were not yet ripe for a revolt from Rome. 

159. The Beginnings of the Renaissance. It was in the 
reign of Richard II that the intellectual revolution known as 
The Italian the Italian Renaissance first found its way to Eng- 
Renaissance. land. While on a diplomatic mission to Genoa in 
1372, Chaucer became acquainted with the movement and the 
1 Cheyney, No. 160. 






THE GOVERNMENT OF RICHARD II 179 

ideals that it represented. It may be that he met the great 
Petrarch, who was the first prominent figure of the Renaissance. 
He also brought back with him a new supply of literary ma- 
terials : in his Canterbury Tales he has told some of Boccaccio's 
stories in English verse. The interest of the Renaissance in- 
cluded the whole field of intellect ; but during the fourteenth cen- 
tury the movement in England showed itself chiefly in the impetus 
that it gave to literature in the national tongue. The enthusiasm 
for classical literature and art, the renewed study of the Greek 
language, and the growing interest in scientific investigation did 
not come to Britain until the fifteenth century was well under 
way. 

160. The Government of Richard II. During Richard's 
minority, the government was in the hands of a council com- 
posed of the chief barons, who controlled the king- Baronial 
dom for a decade. When the king became of age, control of the 
he began to show a desire to rule as actual king. governmen • 
He also appeared inclined to follow the advice of upstart fa- 
vorites, as Edward II had done, with much the same results. 
The aristocracy, fearing that the power would soon be trans- 
ferred from themselves to these hated favorites, rebelled and 
for some time continued to control the kingdom. After a few 
years, however, Richard succeeded in throwing off the baronial 
control and began to conduct the government in person. 

For ten years, Richard II was actual ruler of England. At 
first he showed a self-control and an intelligent appreciation 
of his duties that approached real statesmanship, Eight years of 
and England had eight years of constitutional constitutional 
government. 1 But all this time he seems merely monarc y - 
to have been awaiting an opportunity to take revenge on the 
lords who had bound his hands in his younger years. In 1397 
he showed his colors : absolute rule was evidently Two years of 
his aim and purpose. 2 He began by terrorizing the absolutism. 

■j ,, , xu ,■ ,1 1397-1399. 

aristocracy, and among those who felt his wrath 

was Henry, earl of Derby, his own cousin, and son of John of 

1 Gardiner, 280-282. 2 Ibid., 282-284. 




^Ji£ 



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hm&wti fatoffllt ljmft wjiati amir mu? 
fkcuui fc8 Utonufc mil : tr mui* uurtfuita 
£t*0U etftiif j|aruawi6umrtt^atfrf 
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4* ft (Btoimibt g* ft €#.*)♦ ft 6^^ 1 tt 
SiOM*ft Kottdfe^ft 4kmiui4>ft «^* 
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(mrtiuutur fata ((mm, fartor iiooMa 
rfttuuf^.cr vftjucuift flrcr fmafeta uoa 
ata (ftTrtnk&otai mitrta far film* flfhtcfeat 

Fourteenth Century Writing 
From Liber de Hyda (Book of Hyde Abbey, Winchester). The manuscript 
dates from about 1400 or perhaps a little later. The part reproduced gives 
an account of the early years of Alfred the Great and of his accession to the 
English throne. 



THE LANCASTRIAN REVOLT 



■181 



Gaunt, the duke of Lancaster. For a trivial reason he exiled 
Henry for a term of six years, but promised not to touch his in- 
heritance. This promise he did not keep : when the aged Duke 
John died a few months later, King Richard seized the Lancas- 
trian estates. Doubtless he feared that the vast possessions of 
the Lancastrian family would make his young, aggressive cousin 
too powerful and might prove a temptation to disloyalty. 

161. The Lancastrian Revolt: Richard II is Deposed. 
1399. 1 When Henry of Lancaster learned of his father's 
death, he hastened to England. At the moment Richard was 
out of the country: the affairs of the English Retur f 
colony in Ireland were in a bad way, and the king Henry of 
had set out to rectify matters in person. Mean- Lancaster - 
while, Englishmen were gathering in support of the returned 
exile, who asserted that he had come to demand his titles and 
patrimony only. King Richard hastened back to England, 
but he found the national leaders in arms against him. By 
his many arbitrary and unjust acts during the two years of 
absolute rule, he had forfeited the loyalty of his people. At 
Flint in northern Wales he encountered Henry of Lancaster's 
host and was forced to surrender. 

With a scrupulous care for legal forms that is characteristic 
of the English people, the rebels called a parliament in the 
captive king's name, and before this body was laid Richard's 
abdication, a document that was evidently drawn up by his 
enemies and in which he surrendered all his regal rights. The 
abdication was accepted, but to make matters Richard II 
doubly sure, parliament formally proceeded to de P° se d- 
depose Richard II. When this had been done, Henry of 
Lancaster stepped up to the vacant throne, and in a brief 
speech in the English language laid claim to the kingship as a 
descendant of Henry III. Parliament at once Henry oi Lan _ 
approved the claim and Henry IV mounted the caster given 
throne. The real significance of all these proceed- 
ings lies in the part played by parliament. In deposing 

1 Gardiner, 284-288. 



182 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION 

Richard and approving the claim of Henry (which had no good 
basis), parliament reaffirmed an ancient principle that the 
great council of the nation has the ultimate authority to deter- 
mine who shall sit on the English throne. It was circumstances 
that dictated the choice : Henry of Lancaster was the leader of 
the uprising and the wealthiest and most powerful noble in 
England ; no other choice would have seemed practicable. 

162. Henry IV: Early Difficulties of his Reign. With 
Henry IV the kingship passed to a younger branch of the 
Angevin family, the Lancastrian, descended from John of 
Gaunt, third son of Edward III. In choosing Henry parlia- 
ment had passed over other heirs whose claims were better than 
those of the Lancastrians ; and this fact made much trouble 
for the new king. It was apparently Henry's intention to let 
his deposed cousin die a natural death in prison ; but before 
many months conspiracies were discovered looking toward 
Death of the restoration of Richard II. The result was 

Richard II. ^^ the unfortunate monarch, like Edward II, 
his equally unlucky and indiscreet ancestor, lost his life. 

More dangerous was the Mortimer family, a powerful clan 

on the Welsh border which was related by marriage to Lionel, 

"John of Gaunt's older brother. The Mortimers 
The Mor- •* , ■ . ' , 

timers, the had vast domains and were able to muster large 

Nevilles, and f orces f tenants and retainers. A nationalistic 

the Pcrcics. 

uprising in Wales also promised to be of advantage 
to the Mortimers, for the Welsh rebels allied themselves with 
their old enemies of the March, who were now hoping to seize 
the English throne. Two powerful noble families in the north, 
the Nevilles of Westmoreland and the Percies of Northumber- 
land, had also become dissatisfied with Henry IV and had 
joined the partisans of Mortimer. But while on their march 
Battle of toward the Welsh border where the Mortimers 

Shrewsbury, were mustering, these northern earls were inter- 
cepted by the Lancastrian forces at Shrewsbury, 
where a bloody battle was fought. 1 The king was victorious, 

1 Cheyney, No. 157; Gardiner, 292, 298, 300. 



HENRY IV: EARLY DIFFICULTIES OF HIS REIGN 183 




> P, 






1 84 



SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION 



and as the Mortimers were deprived of their allies, the con- 
spiracy collapsed (1403). 

163. Henry Allies Himself with the Church: Persecution 
of the Lollards. Realizing that his title to the crown was 
defective and that he ruled by sufferance only, Henry of Lan- 




The Battle of Shrewsbury 
From a drawing in the "Life of Warwick" by John Rous, ca. 1485. 



caster sought the alliance of the two great forces in the kingdom, 
the house of commons and the church. It was during this 
Parliamentary reign that the commons were granted their claim 
monarchy. to originate all money bills. The Lancastrians 
ruled England as a constitutional monarchy in which parlia- 



SUMMARY: THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY 185 

ment was the controlling force ; but unfortunately neither 
the lords nor the representatives of the commons were ready 
for the self-government that limited monarchy implies. 

Richard II had been accused of inclinations toward Lollardy 
or at least indifference toward the welfare of the church, and 
it may be that this was one reason why the bishops and abbots 
acquiesced in the revolution of 1399. To the churchmen 
Henry IV appeared as a zealous defender of ancient rights. 
The king disappointed many of his supporters but not the 
church : he placed his signature on a terrible statute that pro- 
vided for the burning of heretics, which meant the Statute for 
followers of Wycliffe. 1 There was to be no tolera- the burning 
tion any longer. The Lollards were to be seized, ° eretlcs - 
tried by the courts of the church, and if found guilty, they 
were to be burned by the sheriff of the county. Even before 
the statute was enacted, a Lollard priest, William Sawtre, was 
burned by order of the king. Persecution continued under 
the new law, and in this and the following reigns a number of 
Lollards were executed. 

The second half of Henry IV's reign was uneventful. A 
natural caution that was emphasized by the irregular mode of 
his accession kept the king from embarking upon Accession of 
any important undertakings. During the last Henry V. 
eight years of his reign Henry was afflicted with a 
lingering disease ; in 141 3 he died and was succeeded by his 
oldest son, Henry V. 

164. Summary: the Fourteenth Century. The history of 
the fourteenth century was one of far-reaching movements and 
stirring events. For twenty years (1340-1360), the chief 
business of the nation was foreign warfare, and Foreign 
the popular imagination was stirred by the news warfare - 
of English success at Sluys, Crecy, Calais, and Poitiers. Then 
followed twenty years of discontent and heretical agitation 
which culminated in the peasants' revolt of 1381. During 
the following two decades the interest is chiefly political and 

1 Gardiner, 293-294; Innes, I, 204-209. 



1 86 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION 

centers about a running strife between a small group of nobles 
who wished to control the government and the young king 
who longed for absolute power. The strife closed with the 
revolution of 1399 and the election of Henry IV. 

In statesmanship the period is decidedly barren. The kings 
and politicians of the age are more famous for errors in govern- 
ment than for great practical ideas. The real importance of 
the century lies in the movements that stirred and transformed 
society ; for the age was one of considerable progress. The 
functions of parliament were becoming more clearly defined. 
Villeinage was disappearing and the masses were enjoying 
greater economic freedom. Trade and manufacture were 
developing. The resources of the English language were being 
brought to light. It was the age of John Wycliffe and Geoffrey 
Chaucer. 

REFERENCES 

Art of war in the fourteenth century. — Barnard, Companion to 
English History, 53-80; Edwards, Story of Wales, 236-242 (the long bow). 

Medieval gilds. — Barnard, 204-213; Beard, Introduction to the English 
Historians, 169-184 (Ashley). 

Foreign commerce. — Barnard, 282-294; Innes, History of England, 166- 
170. 

Development of parliamentary powers. — Beard, 140-157 (Stubbs); 
Fletcher, Introductory History of England, I, i, 279-283; Ransome, Advanced 
History of England, 267-271; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 239-241. 

The Black Death. — Ashley, Edward III and His Wars, 122-129; 
Fletcher, I, i, 264-268; Jessopp, Coming of the Friars, iv-v. 

Wycliffe and the Lollards. — Beard, 221-230 (Trevelyan); Fletcher, 
I, i, 299-304; Ransome, 271-277; Sergeant, Wyclif; Trevelyan, England in the 
Age of Wyclif e. 

A fourteenth century manor. — Beard, 158-168 (Maitland). 

The peasants' revolt. — Fletcher, I, i, 293-299; Innes, 172-179; Oman, 
History of England, 202-206; Sergeant, 272-298; Tout, 229-232. 

Town life in the middle ages. — Bateson, Medieval England, 394-418; 
Beard, 185-203. 

Social life in Chaucer's day. — Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, Prologue; 
Cross, History of England, c. xiii; Gardiner, Student's' History of England, 
270-277; Walker, Essentials in English History, c. xiv. 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE 

165. The Fifteenth Century. The fifteenth century is the 
dreariest age in the political history of England. From 141 5 
to 1485, the story is one of fruitless and calamitous warfare, 
first with France as a continuation of the Hundred Years' War, 
and finally among the English barons themselves. For seventy 
years the blood and treasure of the nation were spent to satisfy 
morbid ambition. Otherwise, too, the period is character of 
barren of true greatness. English intellect was the period- 
active as in the century before, but it produced nothing of 
enduring qualities : no great literary genius appeared to carry 
on the work of William Langland and Geoffrey Chaucer. 
Under the surface, however, the forces of the newer civilization 
were at work. The process of enclosures was going steadily 
forward at an increasing rate with its double result of unem- 
ployment and increased production of wool and cloth. And 
among the scholars of the time the impulse of the Renaissance 
was expressing itself in various ways. 1 

166. The Character of Henry V. The mass of the nation 
had but one interest, the French war, which was renewed in 
141 5. Henry IV had been anxious to avoid foreign warfare, 
and had made no serious attempts to interfere in French affairs ; 
but with the accession of Henry V in 1413, the quiet came to 
an end. Henry V was not remarkable for statesmanship, and 
cannot be ranked among the great rulers of England ; but he 
was virile and energetic, and had many personal „ . 

07 , * - Prince Henry. 

traits that endeared him to his subjects. As a 

prince he had not been a model son : it seems that he was 

1 Review sec. 159. 
187 



1 88 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE 

unduly anxious to succeed his invalid father, and Henry IV 
who had dethroned and murdered his predecessor was much 
shocked when his " madcap" son suggested abdication ; it may 
be that the prince actually plotted to dethrone his father. 
However, when the throne was finally his, the young king, 
who had apparently led a wild life as prince, cast aside all the 
frivolities of earlier days and took up the duties of kingship 
with unusual energy. 

167. The Situation in France. Across the Channel the 
situation was one of misery and confusion. On the throne of 
France sat Charles VI, an insane king, and the chiefs among 
the nobility were striving for the power to govern in his name. 
Partisan strife Two contending parties stood prominently forth : 
in France. t ne Burgundians under the lead of the dukes of 
Burgundy, whose strength lay in the north and east ; and the 
Armagnacs, whose partisans were chiefly from beyond the 
Loire. The temptation to attack the disrupted country was 
too great for the young English king. With a cool assurance 
that is almost astonishing, he revived the ancient claim to the 

French throne. It will be remembered that the 
to the rights of Edward III were at best doubtful, 1 and 

French crown tnat they had been wholly surrendered in the 

renewed 

treaty of Bretigny. Moreover, if any such rights 
yet remained, they belonged to the Mortimers, whose rights of 
inheritance as descendants of Edward Ill's second son, were 
prior to those of Henry, who represented a younger line. The 
English attack on France in 141 5 was, therefore, scarcely better 
than piracy. The French war, however, had always been popu- 
lar ; one of the reasons for the unpopularity of Richard II was 
that he did not push his claims against France. 

168. The Battle of Agincourt. With a large army Henry V 
invaded France and landed near Harfleur ; but like his warlike 
Invasion of ancestor he found that fighting in Normandy had 
Normandy. j ts difficulties and he therefore hastened toward 
his own city of Calais. On the way he encountered a vast 

1 Review sec. 131. 



THE TREATY OF TROYES 189 

French host at Agincourt, a few miles from the field of Crecy, 
and once more the army of France suffered a. crushing defeat. 1 
It is thought that Henry V was prompted to attack. France by 
a desire to gain personal popularity among his subjects and 
permanence for the Lancastrian dynasty ; if he did, he suc- 
ceeded beyond his wildest hopes. On his return Agincourt. 
to London soon after the battle of Agincourt, 2 1415 - 
he shared the idolatry of his subjects to a greater extent than 
any of his predecessors for centuries. A single victory had 
made the wild prince a hero. 

169. The Treaty of Troyes. Two years after the battle of 
Agincourt, Henry returned to France with an army and pro- 
ceeded to reduce the strongholds of Normandy. In this he had 
considerable success, though his conquest was not The treaty of 
extensive. Finally in 1420, an effort was made to Tr °y es - 
end the war by the treaty of Troyes, according to the terms 
of which Henry V was to marry the princess Katherine, daugh- 
ter of the insane king, and to inherit the French crown after 
the death of his father-in-law. Two years later Death of 
both the young English hero and the old witless Henr y v - 
king died ; but Henry V died first. The treaty of Troyes was 
consequently never carried out as intended. 

Henry VI, the new king of England, was an infant less than 
a year old ; and for twenty years the nation was ruled by a 
council of which the little king's uncles, John, 
duke of Bedford, and Humphrey, duke of Glouces- of Henry vi: 
ter, were for some time the chief members. The Bedford and 

• ■ r i-rr Gloucester. 

situation was at best one of grave difficulties, and 
the insistence of the English statesmen on placing the infant 
on the French throne complicated matters still further. Bed- 
ford, who was by far the abler and the wiser of the two uncles, 
found it necessary to spend most of his time in France, the 
selfish and intriguing Humphrey being left at home to govern 
England. 

1 Gardiner, 301-303; Innes, 209-215. 

2 Bates and Coman, 1S6-190 (Drayton, Agincourt). 



I go FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE 

170. Renewed Efforts to Conquer France. The English 
continued to have some success in France, though in the end 
Burgundian their efforts failed. During the same period, Philip 
power in the the Good, the duke of Burgundy, by means that 

et eran s. ^^ anything but honorable, was coming into 
possession of the small but wealthy provinces of the Nether- 
lands. The duke who controlled the weaving district of Europe 
and founded the Order of the Golden Fleece could not be in- 
different to the claims of the English wool trade. Bedford 
therefore found it easy to secure support from the Burgundian 
faction ; and for more than a decade there was close alliance 
between England and Burgundy. 

The war was renewed soon after the accession of Henry VI, 
and for seven years the English advance continued. For the 
Causes of Eng- ultimate failure several reasons may be assigned, 
lish failure First of all, England did not possess the resources 
necessary to conquer a country that was far richer 
and more populous than itself; without the aid of the Bur- 
gundian faction the attempt would have been absurdly hope- 
less. The second difficulty was that a coolness gradually arose 
between Henry's advisers and Philip of Burgundy. Philip the 
Good's purposes were essentially selfish ; and soon he began to 
fear English interference with his ambitions in the Netherlands. 
Two years after the accession of Henry VI, Duke Humphrey 
married Jacqueline, a Dutch princess, whose lands the "good 
duke" of Burgundy coveted. So great a stir did the Burgun- 
dians raise about this that the marriage was practically an- 
nulled. Later in the reign the duke of Bedford committed the 
same mistake in marrying a Dutch heiress. This was too 
much for the Burgundian duke : Philip the Good had intended 
that all feudal heiresses in the Netherlands should, if possible, 
die unmarried ; and this interference with his plans cost Eng- 
land his friendship. 

171. Joan of Arc: the Rise of French Patriotism. 1 A 
third and perhaps the chief cause was the wave of patriotic 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 174-176; Gardiner, 309-312. 



JOAN OF ARC: RISE OF FRENCH PATRIOTISM 191 



Joan of Arc. 



fervor that swept over France as the result of the appearance 
among the French soldiers of the Maid of Orleans. 
Joan of Arc was a young girl from the eastern bor- 
der of the kingdom, who believed that heaven had sent her for 
the deliverance of her country. So long did she brood over the 
miseries of France that her thoughts and purposes began to 










The Home of Joan of Arc at Domremy 

become real and she believed that she heard the saints, whom 
she adored in the village church, speak to* her and urge her 
to go to the rescue. She set out in 1429 and found her way 
to the Dauphin Charles' court at Chinon, and informed him of 
the mission that the saints had entrusted to her. Reluctantly 
the Dauphin after much delay allowed her to join the army 
and proceed to the relief of Orleans which was The relief 
just then narrowly besieged by the English. It is of Orleans, 
likely that the English would have been obliged to 
raise the siege in any event, as their strength was not sufficient 
for the undertaking ; but the aggressive attacks of the French 
under the Maid's inspiration hastened the out- coronation of 
come. The French discovered that their enemies Charles vn - 
were not invincible. The English advance was checked and 
the Dauphin was taken triumphantly to the old coronation 
city of Rheims, where he was crowned king of the French. 



192 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE 

The coronation at Rheims changed the situation completely. 
After seven years the nation had once more a consecrated king ; 
Martyrdom of an< ^ man Y °f tne Burgundians began to fear the 
the Maid. consequences of opposing the Lord's anointed. On 

the Dauphin's urgent request Joan of Arc continued 
to assist in leading the French forces ; but less than a year 




Joan of Arc 
From a miniature of the fifteenth century. 

after the coronation she was captured by Burgundian soldiers, 
who soon afterwards sold her to the English. After a year of 
imprisonment she was tried as a witch by a court of ecclesiastics 



THE ENGLISH FAILURE IN FRANCE 193 

belonging to the Burgundian party. It was clear to these holy 
men that a young girl could not do what Joan had done unless 
she was in league with the evil powers. She was condemned 
and burned at the stake in Rouen (143 1). She was at the time 
probably nineteen years old. Her public career had comprised 
but little more than two years, one year at the head of 
the French army, and one in the prison at Rouen. She 
had been neither general nor soldier : she took importance of 
no part in the active fighting and directed no Joan's career, 
movements, though she often gave the officers excellent ad- 
vice. Her task was to inspire the French soldiers with a 
faith in themselves and their cause and with a fervid love for 
the fatherland. And since her day patriotism has never cooled 
in France. 

172. The English Failure in France. 1431. That same year 
Bedford brought the English king, now ten years old, to France 

and had him crowned, not in Rheims but in Paris. 

_. . 11., TheBurgundi- 

But it was now too late to stem the adverse tide a ns desert 

that was setting in. It was soon after this that the En s lish - 

1435. 

Bedford committed the imprudence of his Dutch 

marriage. Philip the Good began to tire of a war that was 

going against his allies. After a fruitless effort to secure a 

general peace, the duke of Burgundy made a separate peace 

with Charles VII (1435). Bedford had died a few months 

earlier and no capable leader was ready to, take his place ; but 

English pride would not permit a retreat, and so the hopeless 

war continued. 

At the same time there was a powerful peace party in England 

that was anxious to end the war. Finally, ten years after 

Bedford's death, this party came into control of the English 

government and arranged a truce with France. 

. . Henry VI's 

Among the provisions was an agreement on marriage to 

Henry's -part to marry Margaret of Anjou, a French Margaret of 

princess fifteen years of age, whose family was 

conspicuous chiefly for its poverty. The arrangement was 

unsatisfactory to the majority in the nation and the truce 



i 9 4 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE 




Fifteenth Century Artillery 
From a manuscript of "The Chronicles of England" (fifteenth century). 



RIVALRY OF MARGARET AND RICHARD YORK 195 

was unpopular. Soon the war flared up again on the Nor- 
man frontier and later in Gascony. The English sustained 
repeated defeats ; and in 1453 they finally retired 
from France, though Calais was retained for 
another century. 

173. The Rivalry of Margaret and Richard of York. 
Two years later began a series of civil wars which continued 
with intermittent periods for sixteen years. Later writers, be- 
lieving that the Yorkist line had adopted the white rose and the 
house of Lancaster the red rose as a family emblem, called these 
duels the Wars of the Roses ; it seems, however, that the red 
rose was first used as a dynastic emblem by the Tudors. The 
wars were fought for the possession of the English crown. The 
peace with France was a terrible blow to English pride, which 
could not forget Crecy and Agincourt ; and Queen Margaret 
and her advisers were exceedingly unpopular. Henry VI was 
a pious, gentle, and amiable man, but he was feeble in intel- 
lect and weak in will. 1 In 1453, the year of the character of 
ignominious retreat from the Continent, his mind Henr y VI - 
gave way, and for some months he was hopelessly insane. 
It will be remembered that his grandfather was the insane 
king Charles VI of France and the weakness was probably in- 
herited. Under the circumstances some form of regency was 
necessary. Queen Margaret, 2 who was a strong Queen 
and spirited though not always discreet woman, Margaret- 
claimed the right to rule in her husband's name ; but this 
was opposed by a large faction of the nobility. At the head 
of the opposition stood Richard, duke of York, a descendant 
of Lionel and Edmund, the second and fourth sons of Edward 
III. As chief of the Mortimer family duke Richard of 
Richard had wide possessions in the west, whence York - 
he drew the larger part of his forces. At first he pretended to 
be fighting for better government only — England should not be 

1 Cheyney, No. 178; Kendall, No. 37; Bates and Coman, 210-212 (Shakespeare, 
Henry VI). 

2 Kendall, No. 41. 



ig6 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE 




Margaret of Anjou, Queen of Henry VI, and Ladies of 
Her Court 

From a fifteenth-century tapestry. 



THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 1455-1471 



197 



ruled by a French princess and an insane king — but soon he 

set his heart on the crown itself. 1 

174. The Wars of the Roses. 1455-1471. The war 

between York and Margaret began with the battle of St. Albans 

in 14s c and closed five years later on the field of 

War between 
Wakefield, where the Yorkist pretender fell. 2 How- York and 

ever, his young son Edward, the earl of March, Margaret. 

1455. 

who now succeeded to his father's power and 
dignities, openly claimed the throne and was crowned the 
following year. The Wars of the Roses differed from ordi- 
nary civil wars in this, that they were fought chiefly by the 
nobles and their retainers ; the masses of the nation took no 
great interest in the struggle, except when forced Q ueen Mar _ 
to take sides in self-defense. This happened in garet loses 
1460, when the queen came into southern Eng- 
land with a large force of wild warriors from the northern 
border, who could not resist the temptation to pillage the 
country as they were in the habit of doing on their raids into 
Scotland. It was this campaign that ruined the Lancastrian 



Genealogy of the houses of Lancaster and York. 







Edward III, 








1327-1377 




1 

Edward, Lionel, 


1 
John of Gaunt, 


Edmund, 


the Black Prince, duke of Clarence duke of Lancaster 


duke of York 


died 1376 

1 




1 
Henry IV, 






Richard II, 




1399-1413 






I377-I3Q9 












Henry V, 






Edmund Mortimer, = Philippa 


1413-1422 






earl of March 


1 
Henry VI, 






Roger Mortimer, 


1422-1461 






earl ot March 

1 




H\r 




Anne Mortimer 


Richard, 


earl of Cambridge 




duke of York 




lard III, 


Edward IV, 


George, 


Ric 


1461-1483 


duke of Clarence 


1483-1485 


Edward V, 






1483 






2 Gardiner, 327-328. 











198 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE 

cause : in their wrath the populous districts of the south ac- 
cepted the young Edward. 1 Margaret was defeated 

Edward IV. F t n , J ° , . , . . f . . , . 

and fled to Scotland with her helpless husband. 

For ten years England had two regularly crowned kings, the 
invalid Henry VI and the capable but unscrupulous Edward 
Battle of IV* Margaret, meanwhile, continued the fight 

Tewksbury. and gave up only after the battle of Tewksbury, 
147 ' where she suffered a complete and final defeat. 

Her young son probably fell in this battle and her husband was 
killed shortly afterwards (1471). There was no longer any ef- 
fective opposition to Yorkist rule, and for twelve years longer 
King Edward wore the crown in peace till his death in 1483. 
Margaret retired to France. 

175. Parliamentary Government. 2 The fifteenth century, 
the age of Lancaster and York, is known in political history 
King and as the age of parliamentary rule. Circumstances 

parliament. forced the kings of both dynasties to be very defer- 
ential to parliament and to consult that body at frequent in- 
tervals. Henry IV owed his crown to a parliamentary act and 
dared show no independence. With Henry V the French war 
was revived and parliamentary support, especially in the form 
of subsidies, was called for at the very outset of the reign. The 
long minority of Henry VI, the weakness of that unfortunate 
monarch, and the financial necessities of protracted warfare 
continued the need of frequent parliamentary sessions. Edward 
IV was in a position similar to that of Henry IV : he was a 
usurper and realized that he could not maintain his position 
without parliamentary support. Throughout the century, there- 
fore, the representatives of the nation met frequently and were 
consulted on all important matters. The ultimate power and the 
Parliament ^ na ^ wor d were consequently with the houses of par- 
loses popular liament. But, as this body gained in authority, it 
lost its popular favor ; and when the Tudors in the 
next century introduced a type of absolute monarchy into the 
English government, the nation welcomed the change. 

1 Cheyney, No. 181. 2 Masterman, c. 8. 



INFLUENCE OF THE BARONS: HOUSE OF LORDS 199 

176. The Decline of Parliamentary Prestige. The chief 
reason for the decline of parliamentary prestige was that par- 
liament had gradually ceased to be representative of the nation 
and had become the instrument of some momentarily success- 
ful faction. The latter fact appears especially in the numerous 
bills of attainder that disgrace parliamentary history during 
the strife between Margaret and the Yorkists. A Bills of 

bill of attainder is "a criminal condemnation by attain der. 
legislative act:" an act of parliament that deprives a subject 
of his life and his family of what property they might expect 
to inherit from him. In such cases there was no trial : parlia- 
ment had unlimited power, — it could even take life. After a 
campaign the successful faction would call a new parliament 
and complete its revenge upon the vanquished by attainting 
the leaders and sending them to the block. It is not surprising 
that the nation lost faith in its representatives. 

177. The Influence of the Barons: the House of Lords. 
The chief difficulty was that parliament had become subservient 
to the aristocracy of the kingdom. A few years before the 
beginning of the Hundred Years' War (about 1330), the mem- 
bers of parliament came to be definitely grouped into two 
bodies, with the knights from the shires and the The House 
merchants from the boroughs forming the house of of Lords- 
commons. In the house of lords there were also two classes, 
the lords spiritual and the lords temporal. Of these the spirit- 
ual lords were the more numerous ; they were the bishops and 
the mitred abbots, that is, the abbots of the larger and more 
important monasteries. But though the temporal peers were 
fewer in number, they were, nevertheless, the controlling 
element ; for while the selection of bishops and abbots lay 
ultimately with the king, he usually chose the candidates from 
among the younger sons of the great noble families. As a rule 
these churchmen would be faithful to the family interests and 
would follow the lead of the family chief, who was always a 
member of the house of lords. 

In Norman times and later, all the lords were known as 



200 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE 

barons ; only occasionally did the king grant the ancient and 
higher title of earl. But in the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- 
Rank within turies, new titles began to appear : first the duke 
the nobility. anc [ later the marquis took places above the earl ; 
and in 1440 the last of these new dignities, that of the viscount, 
appeared as an honor next below that of the earl. The barons 
remained as the lowest class in rank in the peerage. Still lower 
were the knights, but they did not sit in the house of lords. 
The possession of a peerage brought with it no power or author- 
ity of any sort, except membership in the house of lords. Nor 
did rank within the peerage count for anything except on social 
occasions, when the lords held places according to rank. In the 
house of lords the vote of a baron was equal to that of a duke. 

The title of lord usually includes some geographical name : 
he is duke of Norfolk, earl of Chester, or lord of some other 
region. But this does not signify that he in any sense governs 
that region ; it usually means that his estates or other wealth 
Local are cn i e fly located in the region that gives him the 

influence of title. This fact is extremely significant ; it gives 
the lord an influence in that locality that amounts 
to authority ; at least such was the case in the earlier cen- 
turies. Power within the peerage was consequently a matter 
of wealth. When the Wars of the Roses opened, the most 
powerful peer in England was the earl of Warwick : he drew 
revenues from more than one hundred and fifty manors and 
Warwick the had retainers in fifteen castles. Warwick was 
• king-maker." f tfie wealthy Neville family, whose estates were 
largely in Westmoreland ; he married the heiress of the Beau- 
champ family in Warwickshire, which marriage brought him 
the Warwick title and his vast possessions. During the wars 
between Lancaster and York, he played such an important 
part that he is known in history as the " kingmaker." His 
career illustrates the selfishness of the English aristocracy- of 
the fifteenth century; most of the time he was a Yorkist par- 
tisan; but the last year of his life he was allied to Margaret. 1 

3 Innes, I, 222-230. 



ARISTOCRATIC CONTROL OF HOUSE OF COMMONS 201 

He was one of the many peers who perished in the battles of 
1471. 

178. Aristocratic Control of the House of Commons. It 

is clear that in counties where families like the Percies, the 
Mortimers, and the Nevilles had centered their strength, a 



. 








. ■ ^ 




Y: 




^Y 


L M '11 

' - 
3 








s 




" ^'^^^S£^ 



Warwick Castle 

One of the finest castles in England. It has been rebuilt in recent years but 
a part of the medieval structure is still intact; one of the towers dates from 
1394, another from the Norman period. 



free election of representatives to parliament would not always 
be possible. That was one reason why the knights and the 
burgesses ceased to be representatives of the people. Another 
reason was the restriction of the suffrage. To The "forty 
make it easier for the men of power to control the shilling 
elections, a law was made in 1430 that limited the 
right to vote for members of parliament to freeholders whose 
lands would rent for at least forty shillings annually, a sum 
that would mean twenty times as much or more in present day 
values. But the majority of the farmers were not freeholders, 
they were still tenants of some sort. When the lord of a manor 
released his tenants from the old customary villein services 
and dues and agreed to take a specified money rent instead, 
the agreement was recorded on the records of the manor, and 



202 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE 

from that time on the tenant was a copy-holder. But no 
copy-holder or other tenant could vote for members 
of parliament, no matter how large his income 
might be. In the boroughs, too, a like condition existed : the 
right to elect members of parliament had fallen into the hands 
of a small group of favored electors. 

179. The Local Government: the Justices of the Peace. 
Thus the majority of the nation was excluded from all share in 
Decline of t ^ ie na tional government ; during the same period 
the shire the masses also lost control of the local adminis- 

courts. tration. The ancient shire courts of the middle 

ages were democratic bodies ; they were composed of farmers 
from the various towns, who acted as jurors and otherwise 
assisted in the work of government. But during the fourteenth 
century the king' began to depend for the maintenance of order 
in the rural districts on a set of new officials, the justices of 
the peace. These were originally intended merely to sup- 
plement the existing courts; but in time they practically 
displaced them. The riot and disorder that followed the 
enactment of the Statute of Laborers, the return 
of the soldiers after the treaty of Bretigny, and the 
peasants' revolt gave these new "keepers of the peace" much 
to do and their authority grew as their activities increased. 
By 1450 the government of the counties had fallen almost 
wholly into their hands. 

The justices of the peace were appointed by the king, and 
were chosen from the wealthier class among the land owners, 
the landed gentry, or squires. Each county could have as 
Quarter ses- many as the king cared to appoint. In 1362, two 
sions. 1362. y ears after the treaty of Bretigny, the justices 
were ordered to hold general sessions four times each year : 
these meetings were the "quarter sessions" which still are 
held. At these sessions a great variety of business came to 
be transacted : disputes were settled ; criminal offenses were 
tried and punished ; taxes were assessed ; the public funds 
were appropriated ; appointments were made ; and many other 



THE RENAISSANCE IN ENGLAND 203 

administrative functions executed. Meanwhile the old shire 
courts shrank into insignificance. In our own political system 
the quarter sessions found an early place : the counties of the 
Virginia colony were governed by justices of the peace meeting 
in the county court ; and many of their administrative functions 
still survive in the powers of the circuit judges in Pennsylvania. 

180. England and the Church. While the aristocracies 
were fighting for crowns in England and France, vast changes 
were being prepared in Europe that were to affect England 
along with the rest of the world. In 141 5, the year of Agin- 
court, a world-council of the western church was The c ouncil 
held at Constance, which finally settled the papal of Constance, 
schism and once more unified the church under a 

single pope residing in the old Roman city. In this council 
the representatives of the English church played a leading 
part ; for England favored a Roman papacy because the 
nation was opposed to Avignon and everything else that was 
French. The council also initiated a new struggle which 
endured for nearly half a century : an effort was made to 
change the constitution of the church from an absolute to a 
limited monarchy by giving it a controlling legis- The conciliar 
lative body like the parliament of England or the movement, 
estates general of France. The movement failed : parliaments 
were losing ground everywhere, even in England. The world 
was beginning to look on a strong monarchy as the safer and 
more efficient form of government. 

181. The Renaissance in England. Of greater importance 
was the Renaissance movement which reached its height in the 
fifteenth century. In England it is associated with two chief 
lines of development : the growth of libraries and the introduc- 
tion of Greek as an important study in schools. Some of the 
men whom we think of chiefly in connection with war or poli- 
tics were much interested in the promotion of scholarship. 
In 1440, the young king Henry VI founded a Eton College 
college for boys at Eton just across the Thames 

from his palace at Windsor. Eton College is still one of the 



204 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE 



important schools of England. The same king also founded 
a number of grammar schools and King's College in Cambridge. 
182. Books and Printing: Gloucester and Caxton. 
Everywhere the new movement was hampered by a lack of 
books. Writing materials, especially parchment, which was 
prepared from the skins of animals, were scarce and expensive. 
Books were written by hand, and copyists, at least skillful 
ones, were few, and their work was naturally slow. Conse- 
Duke Hum- quently, books were not plentiful and could be 
phreyasapa- produced at great cost only. Among the men 
who did the most to improve this situation, Duke 
Humphrey of Gloucester, the unstatesmanlike and intriguing 
politician, holds a high and 
honored place. He realized 
the need of better libraries 
and sought books wherever 
they could be found, espe- 
cially in Italy. The great 
church councils of the 
period were usually held 
on Italian soil ; and a Nor- 
man bishop who attended 
these also acted as Hum- 
Humphrey's phrey's agent 
gifttotheOx- in the pur- 
ford Library. -, n i 

chase of books. 

Many of the copies that 
the duke in this way pro- 
cured were presented to 
the library of Oxford Uni- 
versity which Humphrey 
remembered with a gift of 
129 volumes, a princely gift for those days. 

Soon the want was helped by the invention of printing. The 
first printed book left the press of the German inventor John 
Gutenberg in 1455, the year of the first fight of the Roses. The 





rig 














pH^L BK TMtoS&ft&amw ]{5 






1 ji§l 














HLftli' WOT 


1 BaSa 





The Earliest Picture of a Printing 
Press 



INTRODUCTION OF GREEK INTO THE SCHOOLS 205 

new invention was of immense importance : almost any num- 
ber of copies could be produced from the same Gutenberg- 
types, and the cost of a printed book was only invention of 
one-eighth of what was charged for one written out pnn mg * 
by hand. Gutenberg's establishment was at Mainz on the 
middle Rhine, and soon the invention was known along that 
river to the Netherlands, where the presses began to interest 
Caxton, an English merchant. William Caxton printed the 
first English book in 1474 at Bruges; but a few 
years later he removed his press to Westminster, Caxton. 
and the English book famine began to be relieved. 
In three years more than thirty books came from 
Caxton's press. Unfortunately, Caxton had to make use of 

3ft tt pk&onpman (piutueloi fimtprcl tabpt onp 
ppcs at ttta and ttjtx comemo&idS* of & Wbtm trie 
mprpnto afer tt)e fimm oi rtjie pte&t km %fyufyz 
ten s&tl anD truly comctlate fypm comt fintttgmo; 
wtfta: in tsu tfydmtmtttpt at tty mi pk anD^e (^ai 

SutplicDQetcrmila 

Reproduction or a Caxton Advertisement 

Dutch printers as the only available ones, and these took great 
liberties in the matter of English spelling and did much to 
fasten on the language the difficult and illogical orthography 
that is still in use. 

183. The Introduction of Greek into the Schools: Wil- 
liam Selling. The introduction of Greek as a subject for study 
may be traced to the efforts of William Selling, a William 
Canterbury monk, who studied in Italy during Sellin s- 
the period of the Yorkist kings. After his return to Canterbury 
he made the library of the monastery his particular care ; and 
he also taught in the monastery school. Some of his pupils 
went to Oxford and brought with them their enthusiasm for 



2o6 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE 



the Greek language that Selling had taught them. One of 
The these, Grocyn, later taught Greek at Oxford. 

Humanists. Another pioneer in this field was Linacre, a Can- 
terbury student with leanings toward scientific study. Colet, 




John Colet 

From a drawing by Holbein. Hans Holbein was a German artist, 
but most of his work was done in England where he died in 1554. 

a young theologian, also gave efficient assistance. Selling, 
Grocyn, Linacre, and Colet are to be remembered as the pio- 
neers in this work which has had such a strong influence on the 
intellectual growth of modern England. 

The study of Greek brought these so-called humanists face 
to face with the greatest literary artists of the ancient world ; 






DEVELOPMENT OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 207 

it also took them into a literary atmosphere where reason was 
regarded as the only safe guide. Not only did the The study 
humanists feel free to think and speculate on all of Greek - 
manner of themes, — they held it a duty to do so. This new- 
found freedom led to much criticism and doubt, and it finally 
helped to produce a revolt from the most venerable and power- 
ful of all institutions, the medieval church. 

184. The Development of Commerce and Industry. 1 In 
spite of the great waste of wealth and energy in foreign and 
civil warfare, the fifteenth century saw a notable expansion of 
English commerce. The trading vessels of the Netherlands and 
the North German cities were coming to English ports as of 
old ; and now the Venetians also came to compete for the 
northern trade. The Italian galleys that arrived Expansion of 
every year from the Adriatic to the ports of London forei s n trade, 
and Southampton were welcome guests, for they brought the 
products of the Orient, which formerly had come to England 
in the ships of the Hanseatic merchants. Italian merchants- 
found it convenient to settle in English towns ; it was during 

the reign of Edward IV that John Cabot found „ , 

^ • 1 ™, , J° hn Cabot, 

his way to Bristol. The growth of commerce 

called for more available capital and German and Italian 
banking houses established themselves in the chief trading 
centers of England. The presence of so many foreigners cre- 
ated a great deal of ill feeling, and the persons as well as the 
privileges of the Hanseatic merchants in London were often 
in serious danger. 

In the fifteenth century, too, we find the earliest traces of 
the wonderful growth of English commerce in English ships 
owned by English merchants. For a long time An English 
England had been wholly dependent on the Flem- merchant 
ish manufacturers and the Hanseatic merchants in 
the matter of imports and exports ; but this dependence was 
now at an end. The domination of the Germans was shaken 
off, and soon English ships were trading freely on the Baltic 

1 Innes, Industrial Development, 97-108. 



208 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE 

shores, to the great disgust of the Hanseatic merchants who had 

earlier enjoyed a monopoly of the Baltic trade. In 

in the Baltic this same period English merchant adventurers ex- 

andtheMedi- tended their operations to the south and the first 
terranean. . . 

English ship appeared in the Mediterranean. The 

fifteenth century was an age of great ventures in which England 
shared, though in a small way only. During the period of the 
Roses a generation of famous navigators was growing to man- 
hood, among whom were Columbus, Cabot, and Vasco da Gama. 
And it was the discoveries of these men that made possible the 
British Empire. 

The dependence on the looms of Flanders had also come to 
an end. We have seen how Flemish partisanship for the 
Growth of English king had made it difficult for the weavers 
woolen to remain in Flanders, and that many of them 

manu ac ures. m }g ratec [ j- England, especially to the counties of 
Norfolk and Suffolk. 1 Here in ancient East Anglia, where 
wool-raising was already an important occupation, they set up 
their looms and laid the foundation of a growing and pros- 
perous business in woven cloth. With this prosperity the Wars 
of the Roses did not materially interfere. The leading 
families that were concerned in the war, the Lancastrians, the 
Yorkists, the Nevilles, the Mortimers, and the Percies, had 
their estates chiefly in the west and north. In the wool dis- 
trict no battles were fought. 

185. The Merchant Adventurers. 2 When the fifteenth 
century began, England stood ready to enter the markets of the 
Continent with her first important manufactured product. As 
no individual trader could hold his own against the Hansards 
and the Flemings, the English merchants began to organize 
The Merchant themselves into associations called Merchant 
Adventurers. Adventurers, the purpose of, which was to sell 
English cloth abroad. To secure an official standing and pro- 
tection from the English government these associations found 
it advisable to apply for charters, and the first charter of this 

1 Review sec. 140. 2 Innes, Industrial Development, 104-105. 



THE NEW TOWNS 



209 



sort was granted by Henry IV in 1404. The merchant ad- 
venturers differed from the merchants of the staple 1 

1404. 

in that they did not deal in raw materials and 

were not bound to any particular Continental towns. They 

carried their cloth wherever there was a market, even as far 




Ships of the Fifteenth Century 



as Venice. At first these merchants had to depend on foreign 
shipping ; but before the century closed, the woolen cloth of 
England was carried largely in English ships. 

186. The New Towns. The growth of industry was also 
responsible for the rise of several new commercial towns. 
London, York, Lincoln, Exeter, Southampton, and Winchester 

1 Review sec. 142. 



2io FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE 



had been important boroughs in Saxon times. Bristol and 
The older Norwich grew into prominence after the Norman 

towns. conquest. It will be noted that all these towns are 

situated on the coast or not far distant. All these towns main- 
tained their position in the fifteenth century ; but, with the 
exception of London, their growth was slow. This was due 

largely to the narrow 
and selfish policy of the 
craft gilds : their mon- 
opoly was dear to 
the master workmen ; 
they were reluctant to 
admit new masters into 
their gilds; nor did they 
care to give places to 
the newer crafts ; and 
they clung to the old 
regulations and restric- 
tions long after these 
were out of date. 1 But 
in the interior of west- 
ern and northern Eng- 
land were a number of 
growing villages where 
trade was unrestricted 
and gilds were no bar, 
and to these the craftsmen repaired who had found the door 

_, closed elsewhere. In this way there grew up such 

The new towns. J & \_, 

important industrial centers as Manchester, Birm- 
ingham, Sheffield, and Leeds. 

187. Edward IV: Benevolences. The growing passion 
for commercial ventures even seized on the English king. 
Edward IV was a business man as well as a ruler. It did not 
always suit his purposes to have parliament in session, for 
Edward IV liked to govern without interference ; and he there- 

1 Review sec. 143. 




Edward IV 



RICHARD III: DOWNFALL OF YORKIST DYNASTY 211 

fore was compelled to find revenues by other means. He tried 
forced gifts from the wealthy, which were euphemistically 
called benevolences. 1 These were not always F inancial 
joyfully given, though it is told that an elderly methods of 
Englishwoman liked the handsome king's appear- war 
ance so well that she gave him twenty pounds instead of the 
ten that he asked for ; King Edward gratefully kissed her and 
she doubled the amount once more. 2 He also tried to raise 
funds by commercial speculations. These were doubtful 
sources of revenue ; but fortunately Edward did not engage 
actively in foreign warfare and had therefore no need of extraor- 
dinary sums. 

188. Richard III: 3 the Downfall of the Yorkist Dynasty. 
Edward IV died in 1483. His young son Edward V is counted 
as his successor, though he never ruled. The boy 
was seized by his vigorous uncle Richard and 
deprived first of power and later of life. The usurper placed 
the crown on his own head and wore it two uneasy years. His 
brother Edward was large, strong, and handsome ; but Rich- 
ard III is said to have been ugly, short, and mis- Personality of 
shapen. He was therefore lacking in some of the Rlchard DL 
chief qualities that make for popularity. His usurpation had 
to be bolstered up by crime and tyranny ; and soon a combina- 
tion of the Lancastrian remnant and a group of discontented 
Yorkists was formed to dethrone the monster. There were 
still many descendants of Edward Ill's numerous sons, but 
unfortunately for the conspirators nearly all of them were women 
and children, while leadership against a resourceful king like 
Richard III could be safely entrusted to none but a strong man 
who had been seasoned by experience. 

Such a leader was found in Henry Tudor, the son of a 
Welshman, Edmund Tudor, and Margaret Beau- TT „, a 

c 1 1 , , <■ T ,r^ Henry Tudor. 

tort, who was descended from John of Gaunt. 

Henry was in Brittany in exile, but he promptly responded to 

1 Cheyney, No. 182. 2 Gardiner, 335-336. 

3 Cheyney, No. 184; Innes, I, 241-245. 



212 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE 



the call. He landed in southwestern Wales and with constantly 
growing forces marched northeastward into central England. 
At Bosworth he met and defeated Richard. Henry 
Tudor was at once proclaimed king, though accord- 
ing to English law he had no right whatever to the 
throne. The defect in his title was soon remedied, however, 
by an act of parliament, which recognized the validity of his 



Battle of 
Bosworth 
1485. 





A King in His Royal 
Robes 



A Courtier in Court 
Dress 



From a fifteenth century (ca. 1480) manuscript of the "Romance of 
the Rose." 

kingship. Soon afterward he married Elizabeth, the daughter 
of Edward IV, whose hereditary claims to the throne were 
unquestioned. The dynasties of Lancaster and York were 
thus united and the civil wars came to an end. 

189. The Close of the Middle Ages. With the battle 
of Bosworth and the accession of the Tudor line the medieval 
period of English history is generally regarded as having closed. 
The last century of the middle ages was a dismal period; kings 
were false and cruel ; popes and bishops were corrupt and 



THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES 213 

immoral ; low and sordid ideals ruled among the masses. x The 
person and career of Richard III make a fitting close to the 
fifteenth century in its medieval aspects. At the same time 
it is far more important to remember that the same century 
carried forward the Renaissance with all that it Achievements 
signifies: the revival of learning; the discovery of the fifteenth 
of new worlds ; the growth of scientific knowledge ; cen ury * 
the invention of printing ; and the development of industry and 
commerce. Far more important than the many battles in 
France and England are the growth of the library at Oxford ; 
the founding of Eton College ; the study of Greek in the Canter- 
bury cloisters ; and the work of the Caxton press. 

REFERENCES 

Persecution of the Lollards. — Kingsford, Henry V, 323-328; Ransome, 
Advanced History of England, 302-303, 314-315; Trevelyan, England in the Age 
of Wyclijfe, 333~349- 

Agincourt. — Fletcher, Introductory History of England, I, i, 318-325; 
Innes, History of England, 193-198; Kingsford, c. x; Oman, History of England, 
2^2-226; Ransome, 317-321. 

Joan of Arc. — Fletcher, I, i, 333-336; Oman, 234-238; Tout, Advanced 
History of Great Britain, 272-275; Lowell, Joan of Arc; Lang, Maid of France. 

The close of the middle ages. — Andrews, History of England, 222- 
229; Edwards, Story of Wales, c. xviii (social life in Wales); Fletcher, I, i, 373- 
379; Innes, 226-240 (aspects of the middle ages); Kingsford, c. xx; Tout, 
300-307. 

The Renaissance. — Einstein, The Renaissance in England; Seebohm, 
The Oxford Reformers; Vickers, Humphrey, ex. 
1 Gardiner, 330-331 • 



CHAPTER IX 

HE EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT. 1485-1527 

190. The Tudor Dynasty: Henry VII. With the coming 
of the Tudors to the English throne, the transition from medie- 
Beginning of va * to m °dern conditions in England was near- 
the modern ing its end. Closer fellowship had developed, not 
peno ' only between provinces, but between nations. 

Commerce had grown 
immensely and new in- 
terests were being 
developed which all civi- 
lization was coming to 
share. The Renaissance 
was at its height : the 
enthusiasm of the Italian 
scholar had spread to the 
lands north of the Alps 
and across the Channel. 
Antiquity was being 
studied as never before, 
and new worlds were on 
the point of discovery. 
In the immediate future 
lay great changes that 
could come through 
revolution only ; and the 
great task of the Tudors 
was to carry the nation 
through this revolution with the least possible disturbance and 
danger to the kingdom. 

When he seized the English throne, Henry VII was only 
twenty-eight years old, but he was thoroughly matured, highly 

214 




Henry VII 
From an engraving by J. Robert. 



THE YORKIST PRETENDERS 215 

experienced, and carefully schooled. Most of his lessons, how- 
ever, had been learned in prison and in exile ; still, 
they were important for the future of England. 
In all essential respects, Henry Tudor was a modern king. He 
showed, it is true, some of the medieval fondness for the church 
and selected his chief advisers from the clerical order ; but this 
could scarcely be avoided, as nearly all the choice Tudor 
intellects of the land were still to be found in the poKcies. 
ranks of the church. He had, however, none of the medieval 
passion for conquest and warfare. His policy aimed at domes- 
tic quiet and peace with the nations of the neighborhood. The 
first Tudor was not a lovable man : he had no endearing quali- 
ties ; he was cold, suspicious, and grasping. But he possessed 
evident business abilities ; he was cautious in his dealings with 
his subjects as with his royal neighbors. Unlike his Yorkist 
predecessors, he was not a cruel king ; he was averse to needless 
executions and was always willing to show mercy, especially if 
the royal clemency was likely to bring a financial reward. On 
the whole the new reign was popular, for it brought the rest 
and quiet that the nation sorely needed after the long struggle 
between Lancaster and York. 

191. The Yorkist Pretenders: Lambert Simnel and Per- 
kin Warbeck. A fragment of the Yorkist party had survived 
the slaughter at Bosworth and continued hostile to the new 
king. Risings and intrigues appeared soon after Henry's 
accession and continued for more than ten years. Margaret 
of Burgundy, the widow of Charles the Bold and a sister of 
Edward IV and Richard III, was exceedingly hostile toward 
the Tudor dynasty, and the English plotters found her court 
in the Netherlands a safe rendezvous and a convenient rallying 
point. Two pretenders were put forward, each claiming to be 
a Yorkist prince. Lambert Simnel, 1 an Oxford Lambert 
boy who claimed to be a nephew of the kings Simnel - 1487 - 
Edward and Richard, appeared as early as 1487. Henry knew 
that he was a fraud, as he had the young prince himself safe in 

1 Gardiner, 347. 



216 EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 

the Tower. The pretender was caught and finally relegated 
Perkin to a subordinate place in the royal kitchen. More 

Warbeck. dangerous was Perkin Warbeck, 1 a youthful Dutch- 

man, who tried to impersonate Richard, the younger son of 
Edward IV, who with his brother, Edward V, is believed to 
have been secretly murdered in the Tower by the orders of their 
wicked uncle, Richard - III. Warbeck's attempt was also a 
failure ; he was seized and imprisoned. The king had intended 
to be lenient with him, but as a third pretender 

1499. . . ' . ^ 

soon appeared, it was thought necessary to be 
severe for once and Perkin Warbeck was hanged (1499). 

192. Statutes against Livery and Maintenance. 2 Interest 
in the fallen dynasty was not the only cause of opposition to 
Henry VII. The Tudors believed in a strong and efficient gov- 
ernment and insisted upon order and due respect for law 
throughout the kingdom. As the more conspicuous offenders 
were lawless members of the nobility, who wished to continue 
Livery and as uncontrolled as they had been during the age 
maintenance. f fae Roses, the king's efforts had to be directed 
largely against men of great power and influence. Early in 
the reign, steps were taken to enforce certain old statutes 
against livery and maintenance. The wealthier lords were 
in the habit of keeping large bands of armed retainers at their 
castles or within easy call : these wore their lord's uniform 
(livery) and they could always count on the lord's pledge to 
maintain or support them even in the public courts ; this 
was known as maintenance. The ordinary citizen was often, 
Disorder in therefore, at the mercy of the magnates, who fre- 
the kingdom, quently respected neither person nor property. 
It was this condition that Henry VII tried to remedy. By 
his efforts in this direction he alienated some of the more promi- 
nent noble families ; but at the same time he drew the middle 
classes closer to the Tudor throne : and this union of interest 
between the monarch and the masses was a source of great 
strength to the new dynasty. 

1 Gardiner, 350-352. 2 Ibid., 281, 321-322, 345-346. 



THE PRIVY COUNCIL 



217 



193. The Star Chamber Court. 1 To secure peace and 
order in the kingdom, the Tudors relied chiefly on the justices 
of the peace. Henry VII and his successors understood thor- 
oughly how useful the courts of quarter sessions might be to 
the monarchy, and they did much to develop them. 2 As there 
was no limit to the king's power to appoint justices, he was 
usually able to keep a friendly majority in charge of the local 
government in every shire. But in dealing with the nobles 
these local courts were often helpless. To meet this difficulty, 
the king trusted to a new judicial and political organ, the Star 
Chamber court. This was made up of judges selected from 
the privy council ; their particular duty was to seek out offend- 
ers among the barons, summon them to trial, and punish the 
guilty ones. As the star chamber assumed the parts both of 
accuser and judge and was not hampered by the em- The star 
ployment of juries, it proved very efficient for the Cnam ber. 
king's purposes. Gradually its activities were extended until a 
century later it had developed into a powerful engine of tyranny. 

194. The Privy Council. In theory the star chamber was 
merely a committee of the privy council : frequently it was in 
practice the whole council meeting in judicial session. The 
reign of Henry VII emphasized the importance of the privy 
council. The king in the middle ages always had the assistance 
of a body of councilors ; but their share in the administration 
was not usually well defined. In the Norman The curia 
period this body was called the curia regis or king's re s is - 
court and was given important and extensive duties as judges 
and as a committee on finance (exchequer) in addition to their 
ordinary function of giving the king good counsel. In the 
reign of Edward I the council came to be known as the "ordi- 
nary council," and its importance became more The " ordi- 
evident. It was a great honor to belong to this nary council." 
body and the temptation to reward a faithful baron with a 
place at the council board was frequently yielded to ; and as a 
consequence the number of councilors grew too large for effi- 

1 Masterman, 88-89. 2 Review sec. 179. 



218 EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 

cient work and secrecy. It became customary, therefore, in 
the fifteenth century, especially in the days of Henry VI and 
Margaret, to ignore the " ordinary council" as much as possi- 
The "privy ble, and to consult merely a few select members, 
council." which were then known by the new name of "privy 

council." l When Henry VII began his reign, the privy council 
was a comparatively new creation ; • but the shrewd king real- 
ized its great possibilities and entrusted a large share of the 
administration to this council, or to its various courts or com- 
mittees. Especially were new forms of business, such as con- 
trol of Irish affairs and colonial matters, likely to come under 
the authority of the privy council. Under the Tudors and their 
successors the Stuarts, the activities of the privy council were 
extended continuously, until it finally threatened to super- 
sede parliament itself. As the members were chosen by the 
king, the importance of this body when directed by a strong 
king is evident. The privy council still enjoys a nominal exist- 
ence ; but nearly all its functions have passed to the cabinet, 
which in a sense is a committee of the privy council. 

195. The King's Financial Methods; Benevolences. The 
increase in the authority that was wielded by the organs of His 
Majesty's government was paralleled by an evident decline 
in the prestige of parliament. It will be remembered that all 
the kings of the fifteenth century had recognized the supremacy 
of parliament, but that this body had suffered in popular esti- 
mation since it had become an instrument of fac- 
tions that were seeking revenge. After the first 
few years of his reign, Henry VII rarely summoned parliament ; 
and when he did, it was usually for the single purpose of levy- 
ing taxes. Henry VII recognized the right of the commons to 
control taxation, and was not backward in asking for subsidies ; 
but he did not assume that this was the only source of the royal 
funds. He found various expedients for increasing his revenue, 
which, though they were not authorized by law, were not 
expressly forbidden and for a time served the purpose well. 

1 Masterman, 78-80. 



THE KING'S FINANCIAL METHODS: BENEVOLENCES 219 

The collection of benevolences, which had originated in the 
reign of an earlier royal financier, Edward IV, 1 was reduced to 
a system in Henry's day. 2 The king also em- Benevolences . 
ployed lawyers whose business it was to ferret out 
violations of old forgotten laws, with the expectation that the 
offenders would pay liberally to escape prosecution. These 
methods bear a striking resemblance to common blackmail; 
but they helped the king to finance his reign without having 
to summon the representatives of the nation. 

The English people, however, did not wholly escape taxa- 
tion. On Henry's accession to the throne, parliament gave him 
permission to collect tunnage and poundage 3 as long as he held 
the kingship. On the pretext of impending war with France 
(1489), he summoned parliament and requested funds which 
were cheerfully granted ; the old animosity toward Qther sources 
France was not yet dead in the popular breast, of royai^ 
After some show of hostilities and extensive nego- 
tiations, Henry, by the treaty of Etaples, concluded peace with 
the French on the basis of a money indemnity which that 
kingdom was glad to pay. When his daughter Margaret was 
married to the king of Scotland, the royal miser insisted on a 
cash payment on the part of the bridegroom. The old feudal 
payments due to the king were collected to the last penny. The 
feeble Yorkist uprisings also brought money into the royal 
treasury, for Henry was careful to confiscate the lands and 
other wealth of the nobles who supported the pretenders. The 
recent laws against livery and maintenance were another source 
of revenue. At one time when the earl of Oxford entertained 
the king, he had all his retainers present and drawn The case of 
up in his Majesty's honor. Henry noted the num- th^earl of 
ber, but said nothing until he was ready to leave. 
He' thanked the lord for hospitality and good cheer; "but," 
he added, "I may not endure to have my laws broken in my 
sight. My attorney must speak with you." 4 The attorney 



Review sec. 187. 3 Review sec. 144. 

Gardiner, 349 (Morton's fork). 4 Gardiner, 357- 



220 EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 

appeared and the earl had to pay 15,000 pounds. Thus the 
money chest of Henry Tudor was rilled from many sources : 
it is said that Henry's hoard on the day of his death amounted 
to nearly ten million dollars, an enormous sum for those times. 
As the hoard grew, the statesmanship of Henry VII grew more 
and more economical ; but when he was dead and his son 
Henry VIII ruled in his stead, the contents of the royal chest 
rapidly disappeared. 

196. Continental Problems: the Spanish Alliance. In 
1485 Europe was on the eve of vast political changes. France 
had become fairly unified. The marriage of Ferdinand of 
Aragon to Isabella of Castile had brought about a permanent 
Changes on consolidation in Spain. The Netherlands were 
the Continent. now a political unity in the possession of the 
Burgundian dynasty ; but its ruler was a young woman whose 
choice of a husband might and did determine the fate of these 
wealthy provinces. In all these developments Henry VII 
showed a keen interest, especially as they might concern the 
fate of England's ancient enemy, France. 

The old duchy of Brittany, which for centuries had main- 
tained a semi-independent existence, was now on the point of 
Threatened being absorbed into France. England was opposed 
war with to any strengthening of her old rival, and more 

particularly to the acquisition of Brittany, as this 
would mean a great extension of France along the Channel 
coast. To prevent this Henry sought the alliance of Spain 
and prepared for war. He did not enter upon 
active hostilities, however, and after three years of 
strained relations he concluded the peace of Etaples, as noted 
above. The venture was, nevertheless, important : it brought 
The Spanish a considerable money indemnity and an alliance 
alliance. with Spain which was cemented by the fateful 

betrothal of Henry's oldest son Arthur to the princess Catherine 
of Aragon. 

197. The Scotch Marriage. The French troubles were 
followed by a Scotch difficulty. The pretender, Perkin War- 



HENRY TUDOR AND THE NETHERLANDS 



221 



beck, found help at the Scotch court which was still in chronic 

opposition to England. As war was expensive, an economical 

king like Henry could not be expected to push the quarrel. 

Negotiations were begun which finally ended in a . 

& ° » j i Marriage of 

treaty and the marriage of Henry s daughter Margaret Tu- 

Margaret to the Scotch king, James IV (1503), ?£ ^aS"* 
a marriage that ultimately led to the union of 
the two kingdoms, one hun- 
dred years later when Queen 
Margaret's great-grandson 
mounted the English 
throne as James I. 

198. Henry Tudor and 
the Netherlands: : Com- 
mercial Treaties. With 
the Netherlands, which 
were still theoretically 
parts of France and the 
Empire, the relationship 
continued close. English 
wool was more than ever 
a necessity to European 
commerce and industry, 
especially in the case of the 
Flemings. Henry appre- 
ciated this fact and used 
it to drive hard bargains. 

In 1496 the "great treaty" {Inter cur sus Magnus) was drawn 
up, a treaty of commerce which regulated Eng- The " Great 
lish-Dutch trade. A few years later Philip, the Treat y-" 
ruler of the Netherlands, came into the power of Henry, who 
used the prince's predicament to force from him a The "Evil 
still more favorable treaty, in which the Flemings Treat y-" 
yielded so much that they named it the "evil treaty" {Inter- 
cur sus Mains). 

1 Innes, I, 248-250. 




Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland 
After a painting by Holbein. 



222 EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 

Earlier treaties of the same import'had been made with Den- 
mark and the Italian cities, and in this way English products 
Expansion of were able to find more favorable markets on the 
foreign trade. sn0 res of the Baltic and the Mediterranean. As 
the Flemish treaties were largely in the interest of the mer- 
chants of the staple, the agreement with Denmark was to the 
particular advantage of the merchant adventurers, 1 who still 
dealt chiefly in manufactured cloth, but were allowed to trade 
in other commodities. At the same time Henry narrowed the 
privileges of the Hanseatic merchants in England. Measures 
were also taken to confine English trade, as far as possible, 
to English vessels, measures that gave a tremendous impetus 
to English ship building. Thus, while his brother monarchs 
were dreaming of territorial acquisitions and fighting for out- 
lying possessions, especially in Italy, Henry VII was laying the 
foundation of the future economic greatness of England. 

199. The Great Navigators; India and the New World. 
It was during Henry Tudor's reign that European navigators 
Geographical made the great discoveries of new routes and new 
discoveries. worlds, which were to afford such vast fields for the 
commercial and colonizing energies of England. The Cape of 
Good Hope was rounded, India was reached, and the founda- 
tions of a great East Indian empire were being laid by the 
Portuguese. The West Indies and the American mainland were 
discovered by Christopher Columbus, and Spain was colonizing 
islands of the Caribbean Sea. In these ventures England, too, 
The Cabots. had a part : the Cabots, who were still located in 
1497. Bristol, sailed out into the awful west and reached 

the coast of North America. 2 There was much excitement 
in Bristol after John Cabot's return. "Vast honor is paid to 
him; he dresses in silk, and the English run after him like 
mad people," wrote a Venetian from London later in the same 
year. In his private account book the close-fisted king records 
that he gave "to hym that founde the new Isle, io pounds." 3 

1 Review sec. 185. 3 Cheyney, p. 308. 

2 Cheyney, No. 186; Tuell and Hatch, No. 28. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF CARDINAL WOLSEY 223 

It was the discoveries of the Cabots that gave England her 
claim to North American soil. 

200. The Administration of Cardinal Wolsey. To a large 
degree Henry VII had served as his own chief minister : the 
policies of the government were his own ; and to him also 
belongs the credit for carrying them out successfully. When he 
died (1509), he was succeeded by his son Henry VIII; but for 
nearly twenty years English affairs were directed according to 
the ideas of a brilliant churchman and politician, Thomas 
Wolsey. 1 Wolsey sprang from the middle class Cardinal 
— he was the son of an Ipswich tradesman. He Wolse y- 
was educated for a clerical career and rapid promotion soon 
brought him successive bishoprics, the archbishopric of York, 
and finally the cardinalate. His hand was even stretched out 
after the papal office, but in this ambition he failed. On the 
political side he held the office of lord chancellor, which placed 
him next in rank only to the primate among the king's sub- 
jects ; and in power and influence even in the church he was 
decidedly superior to the archbishop of Canterbury, for he was 
the pope's official representative or legate in the kingdom. 
His position was emphasized by a court and a retinue of ser- 
vants which were almost royal in magnificence. 2 

With a love of splendor Wolsey united an extraordinary 
capacity for work and unusual industry in attending to adminis- 
trative details. The king himself was a totally different person. 
As time amply proved, Henry VIII possessed a wonderful 
insight into matters of state and unusual abilities both as a 
demagogue and a statesman. But in the earlier eighteen years 
of his reign, he did not apply himself to the task of governing. 
For the first four years he had no minister ; but when he dis- 
covered Wolsey 's genius (in 15 13) he surrendered 
authority to him and devoted himself to the arts 
of a gentleman of leisure. A fine, handsome, athletic prince, 
skilled in archery, successful in the chase, and a leader in all 

'- Tuell and Hatch, No. 30. 

2 Cheyney, No. 108; Innes, I, 272-275. 



224 



EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 




Thomas, Cardinal Wolsey 
After a portrait by Holbein. 

kinds of manly sport, Henry VIII developed a remarkable 
popularity which he never entirely lost. 1 

i Cheyney, Nos. igo (Erasmus), 195; Kendall, No. 44; Robinson, No. 114; Tuell 
and Hatch, No. 2g (Jusserand). 



WAR WITH SCOTLAND AND BATTLE OF FLODDEN 225 

201. The Continental Situation: the " Balance of Power." 

Wolsey's great strength lay in his diplomacy. It was he who 
evolved the idea of " balance of power." This meant that the 
kings of Europe ought not to allow a single state or ruler to 
become so powerful as to dominate European politics, but should 
strive, by forming alliances or otherwise, to build up several 
powers of approximately equal strength. In the earlier decades 
of the sixteenth century, three great nations laid claim to leader- 
ship in European affairs : France, Spain, and Germany. The 
strength of the German Empire was largely imaginary ; but 
a decade after Henry's accession it took on new importance 
through its union with Spain in the person of Emperor Charles 
V. The strife between the jealous kings of France The problem 
and Spain found a favorable field in Italy where of Italy - 
each tried to gain a foothold or to extend his territories. The 
Italian troubles naturally involved the pope and Venice, as 
leading powers in the peninsula ; and England was interested 
as the supposed ally of Spain. However, it was Wolsey's plan 
not to commit England too completely, but rather The "balance 
to throw her influence to the weaker side in the con- of P° wer -" 
flict in order to prevent any nation from becoming too powerful 
and thus destroy the European balance. 

202. War with Scotland and the Battle of Flodden. The 
attention of Henry and Wolsey was, however, soon drawn to 
affairs nearer home. In spite of the marriage between King 
James and the princess Margaret, the relations between England 
and Scotland continued strained. The old French alliance, 1 
now two centuries old, had become a habit which the Scotch 
found it difficult to overcome. While Henry was absent at 
Calais directing operations in a futile war against France, his 
brother-in-law James IV invaded the north of England with a 
strong force. Lord Howard (the earl of Surrey) Flodden Field, 
was sent against him and on Flodden Field 2 1513 - 
inflicted a defeat on the Scotch that crippled their military 

1 Review sees. 123, 131. 

2 Innes, I, 263-268; Bates and Coman, 248-257 (Scott, Marmion). 



226 



EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 



MODERN SCOTLAND 



Scale of Miles 



20 30 




INTELLECTUAL MOVEMENT: OXFORD REFORMERS 227 

power for years to come (15 13). King James fell in the battle, 
and for some years Queen Margaret was in chief control of the 
Scottish government. For twenty years England and Scotland 
were at peace, except on the border, where private raids con- 
tinued as of old. 

203. The Intellectual Movement: the Oxford Reformers. 
These years also saw the culmination of the intellectual move- 
ment that may be called the English Renaissance. This 
movement did not reach England in one overpowering wave : 
its various interests came slowly and singly during the period 
of a hundred years. 1 The importance of Chaucer's enthusiasm 
for modern English, of Duke Humphrey's activities as a collec- 
tor of manuscripts, of Selling's work as a teacher of Greek, and 
of Caxton's achievements as a printer has been discussed in 
earlier chapters. In the reign of Henry VII, Oxford was the 
center of the new type of learning and among its chief pro- 
moters were Colet, who later established a boy's The Oxford 
school of a new type at Saint Paul's, London; reformers. 
Grocyn, who was professor of Greek; and Linacre, who was 
instrumental in founding the first medical college in England. 
Associated with these were Thomas More, 2 who became a 
famous lawyer and was Wolsey's successor in the chancellor- 
ship, and the great Dutch scholar Erasmus. 3 Two years after 
Flodden, Thomas More began to write his famous . 

Utopia, 4 " which shows clearly the influence of 
classical studies, especially of a close reading of Plato's Republic. 

In the Utopia More outlines the social and political conditions 
in the land of Nowhere which was located on the " island " 
visited by the Cabots. The interest of the book lies chiefly 
in the fact that it brings before us the great prob- E Conor m C 
lems that called for solution in the Tudor period, conditions in 
Economic conditions were not satisfactory. Eng- ngan 
land was steadily growing in wealth ; but in this prosperity the 
masses were not permitted to share. Prices were fixed arbi- 

1 Review sees. 158, 182, 183. 3 Cheyney, No. 187. 

2 Kendall, No. 45. 4 Cheyney, No. 192; Gardiner, 367-368. 



228 EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 

trarily by the merchants who enjoyed practical monopolies, and 
the cost of living was deemed unreasonably high. At the same 
time the workingmen were protesting against the laws that fixed 
maximum wages. Thomas More, as the lone social reformer of 
the age, worked out solutions for these problems which he 
embodied in his famous work. 

The great purpose of the Oxford reformers was not social but 
educational : they wished to change radically the methods and 
subjects of university study. Instead of law and theology 
they would emphasize literature, more particularly classical 
literature. This would necessitate the study of the 
Greek language, and Latin would be viewed as the 
gateway to the treasures of the ancient literature and not, as in 
the middle ages, as an aid to theological study. The plans of 
the reformers, who called themselves " humanists," met with 
violent opposition from the friends of the "old learning." If 
the classics and the other human studies were to take the place 
of theology, there would soon be a class of educated men who 
were not churchmen, and the church would lose its monopoly 
of education. The king would no longer be compelled to choose 
his chief ministers from among the clergy, and the church would 
lose much of its influence in the state. The fears of the theo- 
logians were well founded : since the time of Wolsey the chief 
offices of the state have been filled by laymen. Cardinal 
Wolsev and Wolsey was to some extent in sympathy with the 
the "new humanists and had great plans looking toward 
learning. larger and better facilities for teaching and study. 

How far he was willing to go in this matter cannot be known, 
for very soon English interest was drawn to a new field, the 
German revolt against papal authority. 

204. The Eve of the Reformation. 1 Various causes had 

Dissatisfac- combined to weaken the wonderful strength of the 

tion with the medieval church. The constant interference of 

the pope and the bishops in the affairs of state 

came to be resented by the governing classes, especially after 

1 Review sees. 55, 61, 70-71, 86, 100-102, 126, 147-148, 154. 



THE EVE OF THE REFORMATION 



229 



the rise of the new national consciousness. The residence 
at Avignon during the Babylonian captivity had deprived the 
papacy of its universal character and had given it a provincial 
appearance ; in England it was looked on as a tool of a faction. 
The scandal of the great schism and the fight between the 
pope and the church coun- 
cils in the first half of the 
fifteenth century had 
further lessened the respect 
for Rome in the minds of 
thoughtful men. Then fol- 
lowed a series of "Renais- 
sance" popes, whose ideals 
were low, whose morals 
were in some cases ques- 
tionable, and whose policies 
were not wholly acceptable 
to the church at large. 
When one of these, the 
ease-loving Medicean, Leo 
X, sent out men to sell in- 
dulgences with a view to 
securing funds for the 
building of Saint Peter's, 
the Germans rose in pro- 
test under the vigorous leadership of Martin Luther. 1 

England had offered resistance to the papacy at intervals for 
several centuries : we need only to recall the protest of Grosse- 
teste, the opposition of Edward I to the edicts of Earlier resist- 
Boniface VIII, the statutes of provisors and ance to papacy, 
praemunire, and the agitation of John Wycliffe. But in 15 17, 
when Luther threw down the gauntlet to Romanism, England 
had no particular grievance that would justify revolt from the 
authority of the papal see. But against the clerical order the 
English people held that they had a real grievance : the church- 

1 Gardiner, 377~379- 




Desiderius Erasmus 
From a portrait by Holbein. 



230 EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 

men, like other Englishmen of the Tudor period, were eager 
for money ; with almost every important religious act some fee 
was associated ; and these fees were often collected by priests 
(and other churchmen) whose lives were not suggestive of 
holiness or even ordinary piety. 

205. State of the English Church. As all these religious 
acts were the expression of some important doctrine, the fees 
exacted did much to discredit the beliefs themselves. Before 
the reformation movement closed, some of the more important 
of these had been rejected by the English church. 

i. The church had always held that it was a meritorious 
act for one to confess his sins to a priest and receive the assur- 
ance that his sins were forgiven. For several 
Confession. . . , . , . , . . 

centuries this had been regarded as a duty that 

no Catholic should neglect. But before the forgiveness (absolu- 
tion) was extended, the confessor would order the penitent to 
perform some act that would in part atone for the offenses 
committed. This was called penance and might 
consist in fasting, pilgrimages, or some work that 
would call for self-denial and would show real sorrow for sin. 
But in Tudor times it had become possible to pay a sum of 
money instead of doing the prescribed penance, and to many 
this seemed to be no penance whatever. 

2. The laws of the church with respect to fasting and other 

matters of personal conduct were also made a source of revenue. 

It was possible for one who did not enjoy fish or 
Dispensations. . . . , 

who wished to marry a cousin to have the law set 

aside in his particular case. This was called a dispensation, and 

the power to grant such privileges belonged to the pope as ruler 

of the entire church. Dispensations were always expensive. 

3. A common form of penance was a pilgrimage to some 

holy place like the shrine of Saint Thomas at Canterbury or 

the holy places on the Continent. To the pil- 
Pilgrimages. . '/ ,. . .. . , •. .. 

grimage itself there was little objection, — as a 

rule the journey was thought very enjoyable ; but every pilgrim 

felt it his duty to bring some gift to the shrine that he visited. 



STATE OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH 



23 : 



Thus there was a steady stream of gold and silver flowing 
toward certain favored centers in the church, and to this the 
average Englishman had strong objections. 

4. Papal taxation had long been a real grievance. In some 

way or other a great deal of English gold found its way to 

Rome. The two more prominent forms of tribute 

_. A , . _ , . Peter's pence, 

were Peter s pence and annates, or first fruits. 

The Peter's penny was a tribute of a silver penny from every 

family in England except the very poorest. Annates resembled 

feudal relief and were paid by certain church officials before 

they could enter upon the duties of their offices. 

No bishop-elect, for instance, could be consecrated 

before his election had been confirmed by the pope, and for the 

bulls of confirmation he paid into the papal treasury all the 

income from his office for the first year. 

5. The sale of indulgences was another important source of 

revenue for the papal treasury. It was believed that very few 

escaped the tortures of purgatory after death, 

. Indulgences, 

but it was also held that the living could help the 

dead by having masses said for their souls and by the purchase 
of indulgences. An indulgence is the remission of certain 
penalties ; and in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries these 
were offered freely for sale. The common people who bought 
these pardons were sure that they would materially shorten 
the stay in purgatory. The official teachings of the church 
did not justify this belief ; but the men who sold the indulgences 
often made claims for these that the church had never sanc- 
tioned. Thus the practice of the church officials was in a 
measure responsible for the general belief. Many had their 
doubts, however : Chaucer's remark that the pardoner's wares 
were "hot from Rome" would indicate that the genial poet 
had but little faith in papal indulgences. 

6. It was also felt that too many fines for trivial offenses 

were assessed in the church courts and that the _ 

Fees and fines, 
parish priests were often ruthless in collecting fees 

from the very poor. The fact that many of the chief officials of 



232 EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 

the church lived in luxury and that the monks and nuns passed 
the time in apparent idleness did much to strengthen the 
growing dissatisfaction with the church. It was inevitable, 
therefore, that the explosion in Saxony should find echoes in 
Britain. The English revolt from Rome, like the German 
A popular movement, began in a popular agitation. How 

movement. f ar ^j s movement would have succeeded without 
support from the government cannot be known ; but it had its 
importance, for when Henry VIII took up the fight in 1529, 
much had been done to prepare the nation for the events that 
swiftly followed. 

206. The Cambridge Movement; William Tyndale. The 
Lutheran teachings found their readiest acceptance at the 
The Cam- university of Cambridge, where Thomas Bilney, 
bridge an English priest, seems to have been the first 

conspicuous adherent to the new movement (1524). 
Bilney is important for having won a number of Cambridge 
men to his views, among whom was the famous Hugh Latimer. 
Nicholas Ridley, another great Protestant leader, got his im- 
pressions of Lutheranism at Cambridge during the same year, 
as did Thomas Cranmer, who a decade later became the first 
Protestant archbishop and in a sense the builder of the English 
church. All these men found death at the stake, Bilney in 1531 
after having twice denied the new faith, the others more than 
twenty years later in the days of Mary Tudor. The order for 
Bilney's death was secured from the Lord Chancellor, the gentle 
and tolerant Thomas More, who himself suffered for conscience 
a few years later. 

It was an Oxford man, however, who did more than any 

other to prepare the English mind for secession from Rome. 

William Tyndale was a pupil of Erasmus and 
Tyndale. J ^ ^ 

an enthusiastic student of the Greek language ; 

and soon after Martin Luther had begun his German transla- 
tion of the New Testament, Tyndale formed a resolution to 
turn the Bible into English. Being forbidden to publish his 
work in England, he withdrew to the Continent and completed 



TWO CURRENTS IN THE ANGLICAN REVOLT 233 

his translations there. Tyndale provided the various Biblical 
books with notes and prefaces in which he devel- T nd l , 
oped the views of the German reformers. He also translation of 
wrote a number of controversial tracts which found the Scn P tures - 
their way into every part of England and were widely read. 

Tyndale's New Testament was translated and printed in 
1524 and 1525, the same years that saw the beginnings of 
Protestant preaching at Cambridge by Bilney and his associates. 
The new version met with immediate hostility from the rulers 
of the English church, not so much because it was a translation 
of the Scriptures as because it was unauthorized and was 
provided with "prefaces and other pestilent glosses." Tyn- 
dale's writings were effective : in 1526 a strong popular current 
was moving in the direction of church reform. For a period of 
four years the English people read and discussed the writings of 
the English exile and learned the watchwords of Protestantism. 
But thus far no great leader had appeared and no means had 
been found to give the movement a definite form. Tyndale's 
Tyndale himself was hunted from city to city and death - 
after ten years of labor for reform he was imprisoned in the 
Netherlands and finally executed by the order of Charles V. 

207. The two Currents in the Anglican Revolt. Then it 
happened that in 1527 and the following years a series of 
events occurred which gave the movement both energy, leader- 
ship, and direction. Henry VIII, who had thus Henr vm 
far shown no sympathy for Luther and Tyndale, becomes 
found it convenient to follow the lead of the Ger- reformer - 
man princes and abolish papal authority in England. During 
the decade of 1530 to 1540 a double current runs through the 
history of the English church : on the surface appear the signs 
of parliamentary activity in a series of great statutes that were 
directed chiefly at the government of the church. But under- 
neath, the popular movement was running with constantly 
growing force in the direction of reform in doctrine and wor- 
ship. For a time the two movements followed the same course ; 
the reformers assisted the government by developing public 



234 EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 

sentiment in favor of change ; the government became useful 
to the reformers as an effective means of translating their 
ideas into law. 

208. Summary. The period from 1485 to 1527 is not an 
age of striking achievements on the part of the English people ; 
still, the period is not without significance. Several facts and 
An age of tendencies are prominent. (1) Both Henry VII 

P eace - and Wolsey strove to keep England at peace with 

other nations. The old menace of the French-Scotch alliance 
Henry VII tried to match with an alliance with the Spanish 
sovereigns. Cardinal Wolsey favored a wider system of alli- 
ances that should maintain the "balance of power." (2) The 

period reveals a strong tendency toward absolute 
Absolutism. r , , & p , \ TT tttt 

rule : it was the purpose of both Henry VII and 

Wolsey to consult parliament on rare occasions only. The 
problem was how to provide the necessary revenue for the 
government ; and the first Tudor tried to solve this by demand- 
ing forced loans, collecting benevolences, etc. (3) English 
foreign commerce grew immensely during the reign of Henry 
Growth of VII ; the king promoted it intelligently and 
commerce. effectively by well-considered legislation and com- 
mercial treaties. The geographical discoveries of the same 
period also meant much for the future of English trade. 
The Renais- (4) The Renaissance movement, with its center at 
sance. Oxford, showed much vigor ; it enjoyed the favor 

of Cardinal Wolsey and of Henry VIII, who took great pride 
in his learning. For a time Erasmus, the chief of the human- 
istic forces, resided and worked in England. (5) The Protestant 

_ movement was gathering great strength in Ger- 

Protestantism. , , 6 . , , . 6 6 , . _ * , 

many and the neighboring lands. In England it 

centered about the university of Cambridge and its ideas were 

being widely disseminated. But it lacked leadership and did 

not make much headway before 1529, when Henry VIII allied 

himself with the revolutionists. 



REFERENCES 



235 



REFERENCES 

The Government of Henry VII. — Fletcher, Introductory History of 
England, I, ii, 16-22; Gairdner, Henry VII, c. xiii; Innes, History of England, 
249-252. 

Progress of the Renaissance. — Cross, History of England, 302-307; 
Ransome, Advanced History of England, 389-391; Seebohm, Oxford Reformers; 
Taunton, Wolsey, cc. iv, vi; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 329-331. 

Flodden Field. — Brown, Short History of Scotland, 268-275; Ransome, 
395-397- 

Henry VIII. — Fletcher, I, ii, 23-30; Pollard, Henry VIII. 

Wolsey and his work. — Creighton, Cardinal Wolsey, c. xi; Innes, 262- 
268; Oman, History of England, 285-289; Ransome, 398-402; Taunton, c. xi. 

The eve of the Reformation. — Beard, Introduction to the English His- 
torians, 246-254 (Froude), 274-280 (Gasquet); Innes, 268-271; Taunton, Wol- 
sey, c. v; Tout, 331-333. 





CHAPTER X 
THE REVOLT FROM ROME 

209. Henry VIII and the Anglican Revolt. The anti-Roman 
movement, which had been gathering strength in England 
during the ten years 
following the challenge 
of Martin Luther in 
151 7, was now to find 
support and leadership 
at the English court 
itself. Perhaps it 
would be more correct 
to say that the English 
king initiated a new 
movement into which 
the earlier currents 
drawn. But 

Henry's 

qua r r e 1 

with the 
church, unlike that of 
Martin Luther, did not 
grow out of any differ- 
ences as to morals or 
doctrine : it was a ques- 



were 

Henry's quar 
rel with the 
church. 




Mzt -■■ -■■■■■"■<■ '"'■ 



Henry VIII 

From an engraving after Holbein. 



tion of authority, of power, of supremacy in the English church. 
Henry VIII had, indeed, always claimed supremacy for the 
crown in ecclesiastical as well as secular affairs : but up 10-1527 
this claim had no particular importance, — it was a mere theo- 
retical assertion. In that year, however, a difficulty arose that 

236 



THE PROBLEM OF THE KING'S MARRIAGE 237 

altered the situation completely : the occasion was the king's 
divorce. 

210. The Problem of the King's Marriage. The death of 
Henry's older brother Arthur left the young princess Catherine 
a widow after a marriage of only a few months. The Spanish 
and English dynasties had, however, good reasons The king's 
for wishing to continue the alliance : Catherine's mama e e - 
dowry had been paid in part only. Henry VII was afraid the 
remainder would never be paid, while Ferdinand had similar 
well-founded fears that what had already been paid would 
never be returned. After some negotiations it was agreed 
that Catherine should marry her brother-in-law Henry. As 
the laws of the church forbade a union of this sort, The papal 
it was necessary to secure the permission of the dispensation, 
pope ; and on the urgent request of Queen Isabella, who was 
on her deathbed, Pope Julius II granted the license. There 
seems to have been some doubt at the time as to the validity 
of the pope's dispensation, since marriage with a sister-in-law 
was thought to be forbidden by the Mosaic law ; the obstacle 
that Pope Julius had removed might, therefore, be considered as 
a divine ordinance, and the church had never claimed authority 
to dispense with divine law. The legality of the dispensation 
was not seriously questioned, however, before 1527, when Cath- 
erine had been Henry's wife and queen for eighteen years. 1 

Five years before this, Anne Boleyn, a young girl of sixteen 

years, had come to court and had attracted the king's attention. 

Henry's interest soon grew to infatuation and 

J ° . Anne Boleyn. 

he determined to marry the dark-eyed maiden. 2 

But to do this he must get his marriage to Catherine annulled. 

Wolsey was ordered to secure a papal decree to this Clement vn 

effect, and proceeded to the task with much reluc- and Henry's 

tance. Clement VII was pope at the time; he ^™ an(L 

was a weak man and would probably not have 

scrupled to grant Henry's request, had he been free to do so : 

1 Cheyney, pp. 337-339; Robinson No. 115; Bates and Coman, 238-239 (Shake- 
speare). 2 Cheyney, No. 199. 



238 THE REVOLT FROM ROME 

the European situation was such, however, that it seemed equally 
dangerous to grant and to refuse. 

211. The Pope's Dilemma. Germany was in revolt against 
the Roman see and Lutheran ideas were spreading into the 
Scandinavian North. Charles V, Catherine's nephew, had 
ambitions in Italy ; Henry VIII and Francis I, the king of 
Difficulties France, were allied against him. Consequently, 
in Italy. Charles was the pope's enemy while Henry VIII 
would be counted among his active friends. The year that 
brought Henry's urgent request to Rome also brought Charles' 
forces to the papal city : Rome was sacked by the imperial 
(German) troops, and Clement was made a prisoner. Situated 

as he was, the pope naturally found it difficult to 
choose between Charles and Henry, for a prisoner 
is not wholly a free agent. If he should refuse to grant the 
petition of the English king, England might be lost to the 
Roman church. On the other hand, to annul Catherine's mar- 
riage would offend Charles, who was the nearer and more 
dangerous enemy. There was, therefore, nothing to do but to 
delay the decision, and in this Clement succeeded for two years. 

212. The Failure of the King's Suit; the Fall of Wolsey. 1 
However, the pope could not refuse the request for a formal 
trial of the king's case, and accordingly he provided a special 
Cardinal Cam- court f° r this purpose of which the lawyer Cam- 
peggio and peggio, an Italian cardinal who was also bishop of 

Salisbury, was to be the presiding judge with Cardi- 
nal Wolsey as chief assistant. 2 It was some time before the 
new machinery was set in motion, and after the court was 
formally opened it proceeded at a pace that seems to have 
been purposely slow. Before it had concluded its hearings, 
The court *-he P°P e na< ^ made peace with Charles V ; and 

transferred to suddenly England learned that Clement had 
ome. . or( j ere( j the court and its hearings and the whole 

case transferred to Rome. 

1 Gardiner, 383-384; Innes, I, 275-282; Tuell and Hatch, No. 31 (Shakespeare). 

2 Cheyney, No. 200. 



THE "REFORMATION PARLIAMENT" 239 

As this practically amounted to a decision in Catherine's 
favor, the impatient Henry became furious and his wrath 
struck Wolsey, the minister and diplomat who had failed to 
secure what the king's heart so much desired. A few months 
after the new orders had come from Rome, the car- The fall of 
dinal was deprived of his secular offices and ordered Wolse y- 
to return to his cathedral at York. 1 For a year the worldly 
statesman strove to act the part of a devoted and efficient 
churchman ; but his old habits still in part controlled him and 
tempted him to communicate with the king of France. The 
correspondence was discovered and Wolsey was summoned to 
London to answer to the charge of treason. On the way he 
died at Leicester Abbey, where illness had driven him to seek 
refuge (1530). 2 

The power that had centered in Wolsey's hands was dis- 
tributed among several officials. The chief guidance of the 
state Henry took into his own hands, and the The new 
lover of pleasure and adulation was soon trans- minis ters. 
formed into a remarkable statesman and politician. Stephen 
Gardiner became the king's secretary and confidential agent. 
The chancellorship was given to Thomas More, who has been 
mentioned as one of the greatest of the humanists and the 
author of the Utopia. In matters relating to the English 
church, the king very soon began to listen to Thomas 
Thomas Cranmer, the Cambridge scholar, who in Cranmer - 
1533 was made archbishop of Canterbury. A little later in 
the reign, the king discovered another agent in Thomas Crom- 
well, who assisted Henry on the administrative Thomas 
side of the church. Of these four men all but Cromwell. 
Thomas More were in agreement with Henry in hostility to 
Rome. 

213. The " Reformation Parliament." The summons to 
appear at Rome was a blow in the face of the national con- 
sciousness that the English people were quick to resent. The 
thought that their much admired sovereign should have to 

1 Bates and Coman, 246-247 (Shakespeare). 2 Innes, I, 284-286. 



240 THE REVOLT FROM ROME 

appear in person or by attorney before a foreign law court 
the nation refused to entertain for a moment. Nearly two 
centuries earlier all appeals to the papal court had been for- 
bidden by the statutes of Praemunire, and these laws had 
never been repealed. The present case was clearly a violation 
of the spirit of this legislation, the purpose of which was to 
secure a final decision of all suits in English courts. Henry's 
Henry calls re ply to the papacy was an order for parliamentary 
parliament. elections. There is no evidence that any attempt 
was made to influence the electorate : at the 
moment compulsion was unnecessary, as the indignation of 
the governing classes was sure to lead to the choice of anti- 
clerical members. When the new parliament met, it was 
found that on church matters the majority was in hearty 
accord with the king and willing to follow his lead. 1 

The king's challenge was well-timed : in attacking the papal 
claims to authority and supremacy in 1529, Henry displayed 
Progress of no extraordinary courage, only vigor, shrewdness, 
Protestantism and decision. The cause of Rome was losing 
urope. everywhere in the Teutonic lands. Three years 
earlier the Germans had established the principle that every 
prince should determine the religion of his own land. Sweden 
had seceded from Rome two years before. Denmark was 
rapidly moving away from Catholicism: in 1527 the Danish 
parliament had recognized Lutheranism as on equal footing 
with Romanism. The outlook was dark for Clement VII. 
If threats could move him this was the time. 

The Reformation Parliament was, perhaps, the most important 
legislative body that England had thus far seen. It legislated 
for six years (15 29-1 534), and in a series of bold enactments 
carried through a successful revolution that has mightily af- 
The fected the later history of the state as well as the 

Reformation church. Most of its work was done, however, 
ar lament. d ur i n g the last two years of its existence (1533- 
1534). It was the statutes of these two years that destroyed 

1 Masterman, 92-94. 



THE SUBMISSION OF THE CLERGY 241 

the authority of the papacy in England and placed the Anglican 
church on a national, anti-Roman basis. 

214. The Appeal to the Universities. Soon after the temper 
of the new parliament had become known, two suggestions 
came to the king, on both of which he proceeded to act. 
Thomas Cranmer proposed that, since the question Henr , 

of the validity of Henry's marriage to Catherine before the 
was really a matter of canon law, it might properly umversities - 
be referred for settlement to the universities, where canon 
law was taught. Could a papal dispensation set aside the law 
in this case? This question was accordingly submitted to 
the theological faculties of the various European universities. 
It is believed that both Henry VIII and Charles V made suc- 
cessful attempts to bribe the learned theologians ; at any 
rate, the decisions show much disagreement. Oxford and 
Cambridge supported Henry's contention that he Divided 
had never been legally married, as did Paris, opinions. 
Bologna, and some of the other important universities on the 
Continent ; while those of Spain held that the marriage was 
unquestionably legal. 

215. The Submission of the Clergy. 1 The other suggestion 
came from Thomas Cromwell, an educated layman of great 
business abilities, who had served as secretary to Cardinal 
Wolsey. It went to the root of the whole matter : The attack on 
the difficulty lay with the papal supremacy ; if the papal 
this were abolished the whole matter might be su P remac y- 
tried and definitely settled in the English courts. There was 
no doubt, said Cromwell, that the king had ultimate authority 
in all matters, both secular and religious ; and if the pope 
exercised authority in the English church, it was merely because 
Henry permitted him to do so ; but this permission the king 
could withdraw at any time. 

But to become the recognized lord of the church the king 
must first of all secure the allegiance of the churchmen. The 
English prelates, in submitting to the authority of Wolsey as 

1 Gardiner, 385-387. 



242 



THE REVOLT FROM ROME 



the pope's legate, had technically violated the Statute of Prae- 
munire, now nearly two centuries old and long ago fallen into 
disuse. This act was now dug up and the clergy was threatened 
Convocation with its penalties. The bishops realized the dan- 
submits to the ger of their situation and in convocation (1531) 
ng ' ' confessed that they had violated the law, craved 

the king's pardon, and voted a heavy contribution to the 

royal treasury. The 
king was acknowledged 
"the singular pro- 
tector, the only su- 
preme lord, and so far 
as the law of Christ 
allows, even the su- 
preme head" of the 
Anglican church. The 
next year (1532) this 
" submission of the 
clergy " was given prac- 
tical force by a promise 
on the part of the con- 
vocation to draw up no 
canons, or laws, for the 
church, and to hold no 
more sessions except 
when expressly permit- 
ted by the king. The 
rulers of the church 
thus meekly resigned 
their authority in the 
church at large and made impossible every form of resistance 
to the king's will. 

216. Cranmer Becomes Archbishop. The same year the 
death of the aged Archbishop Warham still further secured 
the king's power over the English church. Thomas Cranmer, 
who at Cambridge had listened favorably to the preachings 







Thomas Cranmer 
After a portrait by Holbein painted in 1547. 



THE SECESSION FROM ROME MADE COMPLETE 243 

of the early reformers, was chosen archbishop of Canterbury 
and primate of England. The desperate position Archbishop 
of the papacy is shown by the fact that Rome Cranmer. 
promptly confirmed the appointment of a man who 
was strongly suspected of heresy and hostile opinions, and sent 
the necessary bulls of confirmation in spite of the fact that 
parliament the year before by an "Act of Annates" had re- 
duced the fee for such confirmation from the entire first year's 
income from the office to five per cent of the same. 1 

217. The " Act of Appeals." With the appointment of 
Cranmer the revolt began. The head of the English church 
now joined with the ruler of the English state in the effort to 
destroy every vestige of Roman authority in the kingdom. 
The bulls confirming the archbishop's appointment had scarcely 
reached England, when parliament passed an " Act of Appeals" 
which forbade all appeals to the papal curia and Appeals to 
provided for the termination of all suits in English Rome 
courts. 2 A month later the new primate organized or 1 en * 

a court to try the king's suit. After a hearing of two weeks 
this tribunal declared in the king's favor. The Catherine's 
marriage of Catherine was declared null and void, marriage 
Several months earlier the king had privately annu e 
married Anne Boleyn : this marriage was now confirmed. 

218. The Secession from Rome Made Complete. The 
following year (1534) the work of secession was continued and 
three statutes of wide import and far-reaching consequences 
were passed. These were (1) the so-called " statu- Anti-papal 
tory submission of the clergy" which completely le g islation - 
subordinated the church to the state; (2) "an act forbidding 
papal dispensations and the payment of Peter's pence" which 
swept away the last traces of papal taxation; (3) the "act of 
supremacy" which declared the king to be "the only supreme 
head on earth of the English church." These three enactments, 
with the earlier "act of appeals," cut every bond that had 
hitherto joined the English church to the Roman see. 

1 Review sec. 205 (4). 2 Review sec. 148.. 



244 THE REVOLT FROM ROME 

These statutes were not wholly destructive : they reorganized 
the church on a national basis. In general it may be said that 
no church dues or ecclesiastical authority were abolished ; 
they were simply transferred to authorities already existing, to 
the archbishop of Canterbury or the king. 

The Act of Appeals provided that all suits that earlier might 
have been appealed to Rome should be settled finally in the 
Act of archbishop's court, though appeals were to be 

Appeals. allowed to a special tribunal of " delegates" (as 

they came to be called) which derived its powers from the 
courts of chancery. This was essentially a secular court, 
though not necessarily under the king's influence. The court 
of delegates continued to act in ecclesiastical matters until 1832, 
when it was abolished and its powers were transferred to the 
privy council. The following year a new tribunal was estab- 
lished, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which hears 
appeals in ecclesiastical cases and also acts as a sort of supreme 
court for the British Empire. 

The act that abolished Peter's pence also did away with 
indulgences and papal dispensations ; but dispensations were 
Papal taxation not wholly abolished; under certain conditions 
to cease. they might be granted by the archbishop of 

Canterbury. It may be said, however, that dispensations in 
the medieval sense have never been granted in England since 
the separation from Rome. 

The supremacy of the king was virtually acknowledged in 
all these acts: (1) in the provision for a review of appeals by 
Royal suprem- tne court °f delegates; (2) in the provision of the 
acyinthe "submission of the clergy" that made the king's 
consent necessary for the holding of convocation ; 
(3) in the act abolishing Peter's pence which formally 
absolved the subjects of Henry from all allegiance to the 
papacy; but most particularly (4) by the Act of Supremacy, 1 
which gave to the king all the power and authority formerly 
exercised by the bishop of Rome. 

1 Cheyaey, No. 204. Robinson, No. 118. 



THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN 1534 



245 



Persecutions. 



219. The Act of Succession. 1 An act that had no eccle- 
siastical import was the Act of Succession which was passed 
the same year (1534). It confirmed the decision Act of Succes- 
of Cranmer's court as to Henry's early marriage sion - 1534 - 
and declared the infant Elizabeth, Anne Boleyn's daughter, 
heiress to the English throne. An oath was required of all 
to support the provisions of the act. There were The princess 
Englishmen who were willing to accept the princess Eliza beth. 
Elizabeth but were unwilling to swear that they believed 
Catherine's marriage to have been illegal. Among 
these were the lord chancellor Thomas More and 
the aged Bishop Fisher of Rochester. A year later both were 
beheaded (1535). 2 

220. The Anglican Church in 1534. When the year 1534 
closed, there were at least three churches in Europe that claimed 
to maintain Catholic standards. The English The En „ « 
church had taken a place alongside of the Ortho- Catholic 
dox Greek church, both repudiating the su- urc ' 
premacy of the Roman bishop, though holding to the 
essentials of Catholic faith and worship. So far as doctrine 
and ritual were concerned, no changes had been made ; the 

1 Genealogy of the Tudor dynasty. 

Edward III 



John of Gaunt 



Edmund Tudor, 
earl of Richmond 



Catherine Swynford 
(third wife) 



Margaret Beaufort 



Henry VII, 

1485-1509 



Arthur, 
died 1502 



Henry VIII, 
1509-1547 



Mary, 
1553-1558 



Edward VI, 
IS47-I553 



Elizabeth, 
1558-1603 



Margaret = James IV 
I of Scot- 
| land 
James V 
of Scotland 
I 
Mary Stuart 



Mary = Charles 

Brandon, 
duke of 
Suffolk 



Henry Grey = Frances 



Lady jane Grey 
2 Cheyney, No. 207; Kendall, No. 47; Robinson, No. 119; Tuell and Hatch, 
No. 32; Innes, I, 291-297 (other executions). The accounts of More's death are all 
from Roper's life except the one in Robinson. 



246 THE REVOLT FROM ROME 

worship in the churches continued as before in the Latin lan- 
guage and according to the customary forms. All the church 
officials in England retained their respective offices. The 
pope indeed had been repudiated, but a new pope had been 
created in the person of the king. 

221. Thomas Cromwell and the Suppression of the Mon- 
asteries. To carry out the many duties of his new office, the 
pope-king needed an efficient assistant ; such a one he found 
in Thomas Cromwell, whom he appointed, a few months after 
Cromwell as tne ^ c ^ °^ Supremacy was passed, to exercise au- 
"lord vice- thority as "lord vicegerent in ecclesiastical causes." 
Cromwell's office was administrative and was not 
concerned with spiritual matters ; consequently it did not 
encroach on the enlarged sphere of Archbishop Cranmer. 
Thomas Cromwell was a man of extensive learning and con- 
siderable abilities of the practical sort. He understood the 
The problem king's purposes and acted accordingly. The first 
of the important move of the new vicegerent was to 

monasteries. i nS p ec t the English monasteries. Henry and 
Cromwell saw clearly that these institutions were dangerous to 
the new regime. While the abbots and priors seemed tractable 
and obedient, it was not likely that they approved of the violent 
acts that had terminated papal authority. Their influence 
with the people of the country surrounding the monasteries 
would probably lead to national unrest, perhaps to rebellion. 
In addition there was the fact that these institutions possessed 
numerous and extensive estates, which the English aristocracy 
had long regarded with covetous eyes. 

The "visitations" began in 1535 and continued for several 
months with the result that sufficient evidence of corruption was 
Cromwell's found, it was claimed, to warrant drastic action, 
"visitations." Accordingly, parliament in the spring of 1536 sup- 
pressed all the smaller houses, 376 in number, 1 and gave all their 
possessions to the king. The larger monasteries, those that 
had an annual income of 200 pounds or more, were permitted 

1 Cheyney, No. 205; Gardiner, 393-395; Robinson, No. 120. 



CROMWELL AND SUPPRESSION OF MONASTERIES 247 









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U 


pq 




n 




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u 






r/l 


u 








c-1 




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U 





8 


s 


n 




W 


-d 






H 

r/3 


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ft 




IX 



248 



THE REVOLT FROM ROME 



to remain a few years longer. But a panic seems to have 
The larger seized the monastic world in England. One after 
monasteries the other, the great monasteries surrendered their 
possessions and disbanded. An uprising in favor 
of the monasteries in northern England, known as the Pil- 




Tintern Abbey 

Ruins of a famous Cistercian monastery in Monmouthshire dating from the 
twelfth century. It was one of the monasteries suppressed by Henry VIII and 
Thomas Cromwell. After an original drawing by R. Godfrey. 

grimage of Grace, was also responsible in part for the king's 
renewed persecution. In 1539 parliament added the posses- 
sions of all such disbanded houses to the king's revenues. In 
1540, monasticism disappeared from England. Nearly six 



CROMWELL AND SUPPRESSION OF MONASTERIES 249 

hundred institutions harboring about 10,000 monks and nuns 
had ceased to exist. 

Thus large sums were added to the yearly income of the 
unthrifty king, but it was not long before the greater part of 
this wealth had passed into other hands. The spoils were em- 
ployed in various ways. They were used to en- 
,. • r 1 • 11-111 , Distribution 

dow university professorships, establish schools, and and use of the 

build colleges ; to improve fortifications, especially monasti c 
along the Channel shore; to pension homeless monks 
and nuns ; and to finance a new aristocracy. The suppression 
of the abbeys reduced matorially the membership in the House 
of Lords, since the abbot's office had become extinct ; but the 
places of the mitred abbots were taken by members of a new 
nobility of Henry's own creation to whom monastic lands were 
given outright or sold at absurdly low prices. In this way 
Henry was able to tighten his control of the House of Lords. 

It is impossible to approve either the purposes or the meth- 
ods of Henry and Cromwell ; at the same time, it is not likely 
that English monasticism in the sixteenth century deserves 
much sympathy. Its old usefulness was passing away ; mod- 
ern civilization has provided agencies that perform the social 
service of the convents and monasteries far more effectively 
than most of these institutions were ever able to perform them. 1 
Nor does there seem to have been either spirit or energy left 
in the religious houses. Many of the younger monks appear 
to have lost faith in the ascetic life and were anx- Monastic 
ious to be released from their vows. Protestant decadence- 
ideas had struck root in some of the monasteries, and in such 
houses the dissension on religious matters was so great that the 
abbots gladly disbanded them. A few of the chiefs heroically 
refused to stifle their consciences and found death in martyr- 
dom ; but the vast majority meekly submitted. It seems that 
those who suffered death were executed, some for refusing to 
accept the principle of the Act of Supremacy, others for refus- 
ing to deny the legality of the king's marriage to Catherine. 

1 Review sec. 20; Tuell and Hatch, No. 19. 



250 THE REVOLT FROM ROME 

222. The Introduction of the English Bible into the 
Churches. In the suppression of the monasteries England 
took a second long step in the direction of Protestantism. A 
The English third was taken during the same period when the 
Bible. 1537. king authorized the use of the English Bible in the 
churches. In 1537, when monastic strongholds were surrender- 
ing everywhere, the so-called Matthew's Bible was ordered to 
be placed in every church. The new Bible was virtually the 
old version of Tyndale who had suffered martyrdom the year 
before. Cranmer was evidently anxious to have the Bible read 
in the churches, and the king assented, it seems, because the 
Bible was likely to prove useful in his fight with the papacy. 
But Henry evidently did not believe that the Scriptures could 
be hostile to Catholic doctrine. Only two years later appeared 
the famous "Six Articles" in which the king took Catholic 
ground on all the chief theological questions that were in dis- 
pute between Protestants and Catholics. 

223. The Agitation for Doctrinal Reform. At this point 
the two currents of reform, the constitutional and the doctrinal, 
The question the parliamentary and the popular, came squarely 
of doctrine. mto collision. The agitation begun by Bilney and 
Tyndale sixteen years before had continued without abate- 
ment. 1 At first the questions debated were of secondary 
importance : the use of relics, the efficacy of pilgrimages, the 
worth of the monastic life, and the doctrine of purgatory. But 
soon the nature of the Eucharist came up for discussion, and 
here was a dogma upon which a large part of the Catholic doc- 
trinal system rested. In abolishing papal supremacy, in dis- 
solving the monasteries, and in permitting the reading of 
the Scriptures in the churches, the king had acted in harmony 
with the doctrinal reformers ; but he would go no farther. 
The Six Arti- In the Six Articles the Catholic position on the 
cles. 1539. Eucharist, celibacy, and confession was affirmed ; 
prayers for the dead were approved ; the laity were to receive 
only the bread in the communion ; and the monks, friars, and 

1 Review sec. 206. 



THE FALL OF CROMWELL. 1540 251 

nuns, whose monastic homes were now closed, were ordered 
to continue the celibate life according to their earlier vows. 
These articles were law during the remainder of the reign, but 
they were never strictly enforced. 

224. Archbishop Cranmer. In the doctrinal statement of 
1539 Cranmer had no part. In the Reformation movement the 
archbishop occupied a peculiar place : he stood Cranmer's 
somewhere between the king and the advanced P° sitl0n - 
reformers, though his thoughts flowed in the popular current. 
Cranmer's mind was fine in quality and highly cultivated ; 
but he was of a timid disposition both intellectually and morally. 
Cranmer was constantly advancing toward the Protestant ideal ; 
but the advance was cautious, slow, and halting. He was a 
reformer, not a revolutionist, and he wished to have everything 
done in an orderly manner and by legal methods. It may be 
that his caution was inspired by the masterful personality of 
the king to whom nearly all the great intellects of the nation 
yielded all too frequently. At times he was in mild opposition 
to the ruler ; but Henry loved Cranmer, as he loved no other 
man ; and their friendship continued unbroken till the king's 
death. 

225. The Fall of Cromwell. 1540. The Six Articles Act 
was followed the next year (1540) by the fall of Thomas Crom- 
well. All through this period both domestic and church 
policies were largely influenced by the relations cromweiiand 
with foreign powers. It was Cromwell's policy the German 
to form a close alliance with the German Protes- 
tant princes, a policy that would unavoidably force England 
further along the road to Protestantism. After less than three 
years of married life Henry became a widower; Anne Boleyn 
was charged with gross crimes and executed. After Birth of 

ten days the king took a new wife, Jane Seymour, Prince 
who bore him a son Edward, the king's first legiti- 
mate male offspring. But twelve days later the mother died, 
and Henry remained unmarried two entire years. 

Cromwell now conceived the plan of cementing the proposed 



252 THE REVOLT FROM ROME 

alliance with the German Protestants by the marriage of his 
sovereign to some Protestant princess. But Anne of Cleves, 
Anne of the chosen princess, did not please the king ; and 

Cleves. though a wedding ceremony was performed, the 

marriage was merely a nominal one. Cromwell's failure to 
secure an attractive queen doubtless hastened his downfall ; 
but his Protestant leanings and his Protestant foreign policy 
Cromwell were also largely responsible. In 1540 he was 

executed. charged with treason ; a bill of attainder was rushed 

through parliament and Cromwell was executed without trial. 

226. Irish Affairs. 1 During the last seven years of Henry's 
reign the interest shifts to affairs beyond the borders of Eng- 
land. One of the most troublesome problems was that of 
Ireland. Though the king of England was lord of Ireland, his 
The authority was practically limited to the Pale, an 
Irish Pale. English colony in and about Dublin. The Irish 
Pale had its own parliament ; but it was virtually controlled 
by the English privy council, as the parliament of the Pale had 
agreed in what is known as Poynings' Law (1494) 2 to pass no 
act that the English council had not approved beforehand. 
Efforts to extend the control of the Dublin government were 
met with stubborn resistance. During the decade of the 
Reformation Parliament and the suppression of the monasteries, 
Ireland was in almost constant rebellion. These uprisings 
were put down, however, and in 1540, Henry VIII induced 
Henry be- the Irish chiefs to recognize him as king of Ireland. 3 
comes king of The practical result of this was to extend the au- 
thority of the Irish parliament and the English 

privy council over all the island. 

227. Renewed War with Scotland: the Battle of Sol way 
Moss. Trouble was also gathering across the Scotch borders. 
King James of Scotland was in close alliance with the Catholic 
bishops of his kingdom, and at their instigation he broke the 
peace with his aggressive English uncle. After ten years of 
hostility, open or threatened, war broke out in 1542. A 

1 Review sec. 72. 2 Gardiner, 350-351. 3 Ibid., 404. 



THE REIGN OF HENRY VIII 253 

Scotch army invaded northwestern England, only to be driven 
back with frightful slaughter at Solway Moss. 1 War with 
The broken-hearted Scotch king dragged his weary the Scots- 
body back to the edge of the Highlands where he died a little 
later. The throne went to an infant daughter who was born 
a few days before her father's death, — Mary Stuart. 

The birth of the Stuart princess awakened new aspirations 
in the English mind ; a marriage was promptly proposed 

between Mary and Henry's son Edward, who was , 

• , 1 t^ r Maf y Stuart, 

now about six years old. _But the queen regent of 

Scotland, Mary of Guise, could not think of a union with a 

heretic dynasty and renewed the old alliance with France. 

England was thus involved in a new French war ; some righting 

occurred but without important results : when peace was made 

there was no mentionable gain for either side. 

228. The Reign of Henry VIII: Course and Significance. 
In 1547 Henry VIII died after having held the English kingship 
for nearly thirty-eight years. The years were not kind to 
Henry : the fine, athletic young prince who rowed so well and 
danced so gracefully developed into a gross old Henry VIII 
king, so burdened with flesh that he was finally as king * 
unable to walk without assistance. As a king, however, he was 
remarkably successful : in every statute that was passed after 
the fall of Wolsey, evidence of the royal will is clearly seen. 
Circumstances were favorable for the revolt that the king led : 
still, the outcome proves that the royal leader possessed unusual 
abilities. Like his father he was grasping, shrewd, and cal- 
culating; like his grandfather Edward IV he was headstrong, 
unscrupulous, and cruel. In addition he had all the charac- 
teristics of the modern politician : no executive ever managed 
a parliament more successfully than did Henry VIII. 

His reign is chiefly important for the Protestant revolt that 
resulted in the secession of the Anglican church Achievement 
from Rome. For two years (15 2 7-1 5 29) the inter- of the reign. 
est lies in the king's suit at Rome and in England. Then follow 

1 Innes, I, 306-310. 



254 THE REVOLT FROM ROME 

three years of strained relations with the papacy, during which 
period the king endeavors with threats of hostile legislation to 
force the pope to decide in his favor. A step is taken toward 
the reduction of papal revenues by the Act of Annates. In 
the years 1 533-1 534 came the great statutes that destroyed the 
pope's authority in England and made Henry pope of the na- 
tional church. During the following six years the king and 
Course of the n ^ s cme ^ agent, Thomas Cromwell, attacked the 
English monasteries and destroyed the entire monastic sys- 

e ormation. tem ^ ^ t ^ same t j me Cranmer was introducing 

the English Bible into the churches. Thus three great steps 
were taken in the direction of Continental Protestantism : the 
separation from Rome ; the suppression of the monasteries ; 
and the authorized use of the English Bible in the churches. 
The movement so far as Henry is concerned had run its course 
by 1539 and closed with the reaffirmation of Catholic doctrine 
in the Six Articles. 

It will be observed, however, that all these changes were au- 
thorized by parliamentary acts. There were only two bodies 

that could make any legal changes in the English 
Legal charac- . . it t-, 

ter of the church : convocation and parliament. But con- 

revolt from vocation was a weak and spineless body ; and after 

it had resigned its power to the king by the " sub- 
mission of the clergy" (1532), parliament remained as the 
only power that could carry out a legal reform. When changes 
were made by royal decrees, the king acted by virtue of powers 
expressly granted by parliament. 



REFERENCES 

The king's divorce. — Creighton, Wolsey, c. ix; Fletcher, Introductory 
History of England, I, ii, 44-46; Innes, History of England, 274-278; Pollard, 
Cranmer; Pollard, Henry VIII, cc. vii-viii; Taunton, Wolsey, c. x. 

Separation from Rome. — Beard, Introduction to the English Historians, 
255-263 (Dixon); Edwards, Story of Wales, 339-346; Fletcher, I, ii, 47~535 
Gardiner, Student's History of England, 385-391; Innes, History of England, 
278-284; Innes, Cranmer, 58-65; Oman, History of England, 293-298; Pollard, 



REFERENCES 



255 



Cranmer, 69-78; Pollard, Henry VIII, cc. xi-xii; Ransome, Advanced History 
of England, 406-412. 

The executions of 1535. — Beard, 264-269 (Gairdner); Cross, History 
of England, 320-321; Pollard, Henry 7/77,331-334. 

Suppression or the monasteries. — Beard, 269-272 (Gairdner); Fletcher, 
I, ii, 55-64; Gasquet, Henry VIII and the Suppression of the Monasteries; 
Innes, Cranmer, 71-79; Pollard, Cranmer; Pollard, Henry VIII, 336-342; Ran- 
some, 414-418; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 341-345. 

Henry VIII and Ireland. — Johnston and Spencer, Ireland'' s Story, 150- 
152. 

The last years of Henry VIII. — Fletcher, I, ii, 67-73; Innes, History 
of England, 291-297; Tout, 346-351. 

"What England owes to Henry VIII." — Fletcher, I, ii, 73-84. 




CHAPTER XI 

THE PROTESTANT ADVANCE AND THE 
CATHOLIC REACTION 

229. England in 1547. During the last eight years of 
Henry's reign no changes were made in the creed or constitu- 
tion of the church. It remained Catholic in doctrine, in ritual, 
and in government. It is not to be inferred, however, that the 
English mind was quiet : the Protestant party was growing 
among the people ; several of the newer bishops were inclined 
toward Protestantism, especially was this true of those chosen 
while Thomas Cromwell administered the temporal affairs of 
the church ; and the primate himself was gradually coming to 
hold reformed views. But so long as Henry lived, the machin- 
Growth of er y °^ g° vernmen t was beyond the control of those 
Protestant who favored the Protestant system, and no legal 
opinion. changes could be made. When the masterful king 
was dead, however, the forces of the revolt could be held in 
check no longer. England took another long step away from the 
old standards. This was followed by a period of reaction dur- 
Reaction ing which almost the whole medieval system was 
under Mary, restored. Had the reaction been less complete, 
it might have succeeded ; but after twenty years of Cranmer's 
system in the church the nation found it difficult to resume the 
old habits of obedience to Rome. 

230. Edward Seymour, Protector of the Realm. During 
the decade of Edward's and Mary's reigns, three men succes- 
sively guided the destinies of England : Edward Seymour, John 

Dudley, and Stephen Gardiner. Edward VI was a 
The regency. Ji * 

mere child ol nine years when he ascended the 

throne, and he died before he reached mature manhood. Con- 

256 



EDWARD SEYMOUR 



257 



sequently, the government throughout the reign had to be 
carried on by a regency. Henry VIII had provided for such 
a body in his will : he had appointed a committee of sixteen 
men to whom the execu- 
tive authority was to be 
entrusted. Among these 
were to be found repre- 
sentatives of almost every 
faction or tendency in the 
church ; but the members 
who favored continuing 
the work of reform were 
the abler and more aggres- 
sive ; and they soon suc- 
ceeded in placing the 
substance of power in the 
hands of Edward Sey- 
mour, duke of Somerset, 
the king's maternal uncle, 
who was given the title of 
Protector of the Realm. 
For two stormy years the 
policies of Somerset con- 
trolled England. 

The Protector was a 
well-meaning man with some abilities ; but the times also re- 
quired unusual strength, and Seymour's arm was Somerset's 
weak. Three large problems interested the Pro- P° licies - 
tector: (1) the unsatisfactory condition of the English church, 
which he hoped to remedy by making it more distinctly Prot- 
estant ; (2) the ancient hostility of Scotland, which he hoped 
to remove by a marriage of the two youthful sovereigns, Edward 
and Mary ; (3) the economic misery that had come upon the 
land largely as a result of the practice of enclosures, which he 
hoped to alleviate by legislation directed against the landlords 
who were enclosing their fields. 




Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset 
After a portrait by Holbein. 



258 PROTESTANT ADVANCE AND CATHOLIC REACTION 

231. The Protector's Scotch Policy. It was not to be 

expected that Somerset could resist the temptation to interfere 
in the affairs of the turbulent neighbor to the north. During 
the closing years of Henry's reign, a movement for church 
reform had begun in Scotland under the leadership of the 
The Protestant f amous preacher, George Wishart. For some time 
movement in Wishart was accompanied by the more famous John 
Knox, who acted as his bodyguard and bore "a 
two-handed sword." In 1546, George Wishart was burned; 
but John Knox lived to become the chief builder of the Pres- 
byterian church. Seymour had ambitions to settle the troubles 
that distracted Scotand by uniting that kingdom to England ; 
but the Protector was not a diplomat. In his usual blunt 

a and tactless manner he attempted to force the 
Seymour and . A 

the Scots: government at Edinburgh to agree to the marriage 

Pinkie Cleugh. that he was planning for the little Scotch princess. 

With a strong army he crossed the border and 

overwhelmed a Scotch force at Pinkie Cleugh near Edinburgh. 

After the battle came a season of plunder and then a return 

to England. The result was embittered hostility and a closer 

alliance between Scotland and France, to which country the 

little queen was sent for education and marriage. 1 

232. Attempts at Economic Reform. Somerset also failed 
in his efforts to secure economic reforms. The development of 
textile manufactures had created an increasing demand for 
English wool. Land owners found it even more profitable than 
before to " enclose" their fields, or turn them into sheep pas- 
The Tudor tures. 2 Tenant farmers thus lost their holdings 
enclosures. an( j were compelled to wander elsewhere in search 
of land and work. But as the same movement was going on 
throughout the kingdom, it became increasingly difficult to 
secure a livelihood. This condition was productive of much 
economic unrest ; and the ranks of the revolutionary party 

1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 35. 

2 Cheyney, No. 209; Innes, I, 250-254; Kendall, No. 62, selection from More's 
Utopia; Innes, Industrial Development, 140-144. 



ENGLAND BECOMES PROTESTANT 259 

were readily recruited from these elements in distress. Though 
usually associated with religious changes, the uprisings of the 
Tudor period, of which there were several, were more frequently 
due to economic difficulties. 

Somerset wished to put an end to the practice of enclosure 
and to force enclosed land back into agricultural holdings. 
But it was the nobles and the men of wealth who L eg i s i at i on 
owned the land and enclosed the fields : the same against 
element sat in the house of lords and in large meas- enc osures 
ure controlled the elections to the house of commons. It was 
therefore impossible to secure effective legislation : the first 
parliament of Edward VTs reign could think of nothing better 
than to have collections taken in the churches to help the dis- 
possessed ; parliament was also willing to have certain types of 
vagabonds sold into slavery; but these expedients did not 
prove effective. Efforts had also been made in earlier reigns 
to check the process of enclosures ; x but these p a ii ure f 
older statutes were easily evaded ; juries were Somerset's 
intimidated and failed to convict the offenders ; po lcy ' 
a few oxen were turned in with the sheep and the enclosure 
was called a cattle pasture ; occasional furrows were run across 
the pasture that it might be classed as plowland. Meanwhile 
distress grew, and the Protector lost support on all sides : 
the landlords were irritated by continued threats of legislation ; 
and the dispossessed were disappointed in finding that the policy 
of the government showed no results. 

233. England Becomes Protestant. 2 Seymour's religious 
policy seemed more successful. With the aid of Cranmer 3 
he transformed the English church into a Protes- Somerset's re- 
tant communion. In this work the archbishop h g 10us policy, 
had the assistance of his two old Cambridge friends : Ridley, 
who was made bishop of the neighboring see of Rochester, and 
Latimer, who took up his residence in the archbishop's palace. 
The reform work began a few months after Edward's accession. 

1 Kendall, No. 63; review sec. 153. 3 Gardiner, 413-414. 

2 Cheyney, No. 208; Kendall, No. 49. 



260 PROTESTANT ADVANCE AND CATHOLIC REACTION 

Anything that suggested actual worship or undue reverence for 
images and pictures was forbidden. Various acts looking 
toward the punishment of heresy were repealed. The clergy 
were given permission to marry and the laity were permitted 
P ress to P art ake °f the wine as well as of the bread in the 

toward communion. The Six Articles Act was repealed. 

Protestantism. But of the greatest importance was the publication 

of a new liturgy or order of church worship, the English Prayer 
Book of 1549 which in a revised form is still in use in the Angli- 
can church. An Act of Uniformity, which was passed by parlia- 
ment in that same year, for the first time in English history 
ordered absolute uniformity of worship in the churches of the 
kingdom. The Prayer Book was first used at Whitsuntide, 
1549; and on that day the English people came face to face 
with the positive side of the Reformation. The earlier changes 
did not directly concern the common man : they were mainly 
financial and administrative, and concerned chiefly the officials 
of the church. But now the forms of worship were changed. 
The Latin ritual was replaced by one in English. From now 
on all shared, though for the most part unwillingly, in the 
novelties of Protestantism. 

234. The English Prayer Book. 1 1549. The Prayer Book 
was chiefly the work of Cranmer ; and, though it has seen many 
Cranmer's revisions and changes, it still remains essentially 
Book of Com- Cranmer's work. In large measure it was based 
mon rayer. Qn ^ e ancient "Uses" and was composed of what 
were considered the best forms and prayers in the medieval 
liturgies. In the translation of these materials Cranmer 
showed himself a great master of English prose style. In the 
selection of ceremonial forms, and still more in the changes and 
omissions, the influence of Protestant thought is clearly evi- 
dent. But aside from the repeal of the Six Articles, no official 
changes were made in the doctrinal standards of the English 
church, though a step in this direction was taken later on in 
the reign. 

1 Gardiner, 415, 418-419. 



FALL OF SOMERSET; RISE OF NORTHUMBERLAND 261 

The movement for church worship in the English language 
began five years earlier ; when Henry VIII was fighting in 
France, Cranmer ordered prayers to be said for his The Litan 
safety; these were to.be said in English. The and the 
same year Cranmer drew up a Litany in English nmer - 1544 
for use in the church service and published a book of private 
prayers called the Primer. The priests were also ordered to 
have the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Command- 
ments repeated in English. The masses were, therefore, not 
wholly unprepared for the changes ; still, the Prayer Book was 
received with mixed approval. The mysterious phrases in the 
older Latin suddenly became intelligible and seemed to lose 
their sacred character. For the majority the change was too 
great. The dissatisfaction with the new service added to eco- 
nomic pressure soon led to risings. In three parts of the king- 
dom rebellion appeared. In the extreme southwest where 
Cornish (a Celtic language) was largely spoken, Dissatisfaction 
the uprising was caused by the compulsory use of with the Eng- 
the English language in the church service. In the 1S service * 
eastern counties the grievances were economic, but many 
joined the rebels because of their dissatisfaction with the changes 
in religion. An insurrection was also attempted in Yorkshire. 
These movements all failed, but indirectly they brought about 
the Protector's downfall. 

235. The Fall of Somerset and the Rise of Northumber- 
land. Somerset's policies had failed to meet the difficulties of 
the situation and had alienated all classes except the religious 
reformers, most of whom were of little consequence in the 
government. The council that ruled in Edward's name finally 

turned against him and deposed him. It was his „ 

• Seymour 

policy as to enclosures that ruined Somerset. The deposed from 

leader in the plot to depose him was Dudlev, whose ^f P rotect <> r - 

ship. 1549. 

enclosed fields had been plowed up by officers of 
the law. The vacancy in the protectorship was not filled, but 
Dudley, commonly known by his later title as duke of North- 
umberland, became the ruling force in the state. Somerset 



262 PROTESTANT ADVANCE AND CATHOLIC REACTION 

submitted ; but three years later he was found intriguing with 
Dudley's enemies and was sent to the block. 

Dudley was the son of a lawyer who had gained a doubtful 
reputation in the days of Henry VII as attorney and extortioner 
Northumber- for the king. He was dishonest and unscrupulous, 
land - and possessed of little real statesmanlike abilities, 

though he had much sly cunning and capacity for intrigue. 
In most respects he continued the policies of Somerset. In 
religious matters he found it expedient to follow Cranmer's 
lead and to push the nation farther along the path of Protes- 
tantism. In this respect he achieved nothing, however, except 
to replace some of the more conservative bishops like Bonner 
and Gardiner with men of more pronounced Protestant tenden- 
cies. Steps were taken in the direction of a new official creed. 
The " Forty- A set of " Forty- two Articles" drawn up by Cran- 
two Articles." mer was published by royal mandate in 1553; 
but as the king died less than a month later, no attempt was 
ever made to force the acceptance of these Articles. The 
Roman standards of faith remained the official creed of the 
Anglican church for nearly twenty years longer, till the "Thirty- 
nine Articles" were made the doctrinal standard by act of 
parliament in 1571. 

236. Lady Jane Grey: the Nine Days' Queen. 1553. 
Northumberland is remembered chiefly for his unsuccessful 
attempt to change the line of succession to the English throne. 
The succes- Edward died at the age of sixteen and according 
sion: Lady to Henry's will, to which parliament had given the 
rey. f orce f j aWj the elder of the king's sisters, Mary, 
should succeed him. It was clear to the regents whose power 
was now to cease that the granddaughter of Queen Isabella, 
who gave her favor to the Spanish Inquisition, was likely to 
spare neither themselves nor their work. Northumberland 
now conceived the plan of proclaiming the young and lovable 
princess, Lady Jane Grey, 1 as queen of England. Lady Jane 
was the granddaughter of Henry VIII's youngest sister and 

1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 33 (1). 



MARY TUDOR: RESTORATION OF CATHOLICISM 263 



next in line after the princesses Mary and Elizabeth. In an- 
ticipation of success Northumberland had married her to his 
own son. 

The duke had laid his plan carefully. The council had 
agreed to the change, though with much reluctance, The nine 
for Englishmen have always shown a great and days ' <i ueen - 
mysterious reverence for 
law. Lady Jane was pro- 
claimed and for nine days 
was nominal queen of 
England. An effort was 
made to secure Mary's 
person ; but the men of 
the eastern counties ral- 
lied to her support, and 
the regency thought it 
wise to surrender. Lady 
Jane was imprisoned but 
she was not executed un- 
til a later uprising had 
impressed Queen Mary 
with the danger of per- 
mitting her cousin to 
live. 1 

237. Mary Tudor: the 
Restoration of Catholic- 
ism. There was nothing 
attractive about Mary Tudor. She was not beautiful and 
had none of the intellectual charms and accom- 
plishments that made the Tudors such an interest- 
ing family. She had inherited the Tudor self-will in full 
measure, but not the caution, the prudence, and the strong 
qualities of the dynasty. 2 The new queen's first and chief con- 




Mary Tudor 
After a painting by Antonio More. 



Mary Tudor. 



1 Cheyney, No. 211. 

2 Cheyney, No. 210; Kendall, No. 50; Robinson, No. 121; two reports of Venetian 
ambassadors. 



264 PROTESTANT ADVANCE AND CATHOLIC REACTION 

cern was to restore the old order in the church. Mary had all 
her life been an ardent Catholic. Furthermore, the English 
Reformation was hateful to her for personal reasons : it was 
closely associated with her own and her mother's disgrace. 
Mary's church Much had to be done before the old ecclesiastical 
policy. regime could be restored ; but Mary and her asso- 

ciates began promptly, and the changes came swiftly. First it 
was necessary to replace the rulers of the church with bishops 
who were devoted to the Roman Catholic system ; this was 
difficult to accomplish, as the loyal generation was passing 
away and the young theologians were tainted with heresy. 
But Mary was determined to have no Protestant bishops ; on 
different pretexts a number were removed and some imprisoned 
for heresy. It was also a part of Mary's plan to dismiss the 
married priests, to reestablish the monasteries, to abolish 
Cranmer's Prayer Book, and to repeal all the laws relating to 
the royal supremacy in the church. All these purposes were 
Romanism accomplished but one : the monastic lands were 
reestablished. now j^jd largely by the aristocracy, who refused 
to surrender what was legally, if not morally, theirs ; and 
Queen Mary had no other funds with which to endow mo- 
nastic foundations. The only monastery that Mary was able to 
reestablish was Westminster Abbey, where a small community 
of fifteen monks took up its abode. 

Bishops Bonner and Gardiner were at once restored to their 
respective sees of London and Winchester, and the reconstruc- 
Stephen tion of the hierarchy was begun. Gardiner had at 

Gardiner. one ±{ me been enthusiastic for the royal supremacy, 

and had even served Henry as agent at the Roman court in his 
fight for release from his wife, Mary's own mother. But all this 
was now forgiven, for the queen had great need of Gardiner's 
abilities. He was elevated to the lord chancellorship, and dur- 
ing the reaction he was not only the chief subject of the realm, 
but also chief adviser and executive minister. 

238. The Marriage of Mary to Philip II. A matter of 
prime importance was the queen's marriage. The dread of civil 



THE REUNION WITH ROME 265 

war in case of a disputed or doubtful succession had long hung 
over the land ; and the nation hoped for an heir whose title 
would have no cloud. Marriage was also of vast ~, , 

Ine queen's 

importance to the queen herself : if after her death marriage 

the crown should pass to Elizabeth, the daughter of p ans " 
Anne Boleyn, as the law provided, all that Mary had accom- 
plished in behalf of Rome and the church might fail. But to 
find a suitable husband was no easy matter. As Catholic 
Europe was still divided into two hostile camps led by the 
emperor and the king of France, the choice of a husband from 
a Continental dynasty would be sure to lead to foreign compli- 
cations. Accordingly, many Englishmen, including the astute 
Bishop Gardiner, preferred a marriage to Edward Courtenay, a 
young English nobleman, who represented the Yorkist line of 
kings. Mary, however, was determined to marry her second 
cousin, Philip of Spain; 1 and the nation consented Philip of Spain 
with evident reluctance, for a matrimonial union her cnoice - 
with Spain was likely to mean the revival of the ancient trouble 
wi£h France and Scotland. In spite of the popular opposition 
a marriage treaty was drawn up and accepted by parliament ; 
and in July, 1554, Philip came to England and 
was married to the queen by Bishop Gardiner in 
Winchester cathedral. 

239. The Reunion with Rome. Meanwhile the religious 
reaction was growing in strength. Four months after the 
queen's accession parliament repealed all the reforming laws of 
Edward VI, and thus restored the system that ruled at the 
death of Queen Mary's father, Henry VIII. The Prayer Book 
had to give way to the older forms of service and a large number 
of married priests, perhaps as many as 2500, lost Religious 
their benefices. This was as far as the English ^action- 
people were prepared to go at the time. Not till a year later 
could a new and carefully selected parliament be induced to 
repeal the church legislation of Henry VIII and reestablish 
papal supremacy. 

1 Kendall, No. 60; Robinson, No. 124; two separate accounts. 



266 PROTESTANT ADVANCE AND CATHOLIC REACTION 

The " reunion with Rome" necessitated two distinct acts, 



absolution and repeal. The nation was regarded from the 
Roman viewpoint as an individual who had grievously sinned 




Reginald, Cardinal Pole 
After the picture attributed to Raphael or Fra Sebastiano del Piombo, 
engraved by Nicholas de Larmessin. 

and was in need of the forgiveness of the church. Reginald 
Pole, an Englishman of royal blood and cardinal deacon, was 
sent to England as legate to receive the supplication and con- 



THE "MARIAN PERSECUTION" 267 

fession of the nation, to extend absolution, and to command 
penance. At a great gathering in Whitehall „,, 

1. 1 1 T 1 ^.i n The nation 

Palace, parliament, through Lord Chancellor absolved by 

Gardiner, presented a statement of the national Cardinal Pole. 

1554. 

sin and requested the king and queen to intercede 
with the pope's representative and ask the forgiveness of the 
church. On receiving the supplication from the hands of their 
majesties, the cardinal extended forgiveness to the kneeling 
assembly and commanded a repeal of all the anti- Repeal of the 
papal statutes of the Reformation Parliament as Reformation 
a suitable penance. 1 Five weeks later these laws 
were duly repealed (January, 1555). 

240. The "Marian Persecution.' ' In less than two years 
Mary had razed the entire structure that Cranmer had built 
up so carefully and so laboriously in the reigns of Henry and 
Edward. But there was still a powerful public sentiment to 
reckon with. Twenty years under the new regime had de- 
veloped habits in the nation that could not be changed by 
statutes. A strong minority clung to the newer Laws against 
Protestant ideals. Soon after the reconciliation, heresy 
parliament, under pressure from Mary and Gardi- 
ner, took a third step backward and reenacted the old laws 
against heresy. These laws were applied in the most merciless 
manner. It seems to have been Gardiner's plan to strike down 
only the great leaders of the Protestant movement: but under 
Mary's inspiration an inquisition was organized which struck at 
heretics of every class. 2 For three years the fires burned and 
nearly three hundred victims were given to the flames ; a con- 
siderable number (estimated at sixty) perished in Persecution 
prison; while numerous Protestants fled to the 
Continent where they found homes in a few Protestant cities, 
particularly Frankfort and Geneva, the city of John Calvin. 

Five bishops suffered at the stake among whom were the 
three famous Cambridge men, Latimer, Ridley, 3 and Cranmer. 

1 Review sees. 217-218. 3 Innes, I, 317-324- 

2 Cheyney, No. 212. 



268 PROTESTANT ADVANCE AND CATHOLIC REACTION 

The archbishop had never been courageous : worn-out and 
The Oxford broken in health he signed some sort of a recan- 
martyrs. tation in the hope, no doubt, of escaping death. 

But on the day of his execution his constancy returned ; he repu- 
diated the document. "And forasmuch as my hand offended 
Cranmer at in writing contrary to my heart, therefore my hand 
the stake. shall first be punished. For if I come to the fire 

it shall first be burned." An hour later he redeemed his prom- 
ise at the stake. 

241. The Failure of the Reaction. The heroism of the 
Marian martyrs stands out in clearer light when the European 
situation is examined. In 1555 Protestantism appeared to be 
Loyola and a losing cause everywhere. The Catholic reaction 
the Jesuits. was ro ning its mighty wave northward. The 
Jesuit order, a wonderfully efficient organization still under 
the guidance of its founder the great Loyola, was undermining 
the fortresses of the reformed forces. The council of Trent 
had begun its efforts to cleanse the Church from the abuses 
that had done so much to make the Lutheran movement 
The Catholic successful. On the papal throne sat Paul IV, an 
reformation. aged Italian whose heart was aflame with enthu- 
siasm for a purified hierarchy. But what was more significant, 
the Catholic forces of Europe had found a leader in Philip II 
of Spain, whose principles would permit neither toleration nor 
compromise. The wealth and power of Spain were at his 
disposal ; his hand lay heavy on Dutch Protestantism ; his 
English queen was uprooting heresy in Britain. For the cause 
of English Protestantism there could be but slight hopes. 

The reaction failed ; and its failure in England did much to 
check the movement on the Continent. Nothing that the 
Failure of the unfortunate queen undertook seemed to prosper, 
reaction in England recoiled from her policies. Her subjects 
had supported her against the intrigues of North- 
umberland ; but they revolted at the sight of the executions 
and they learned to speak of her as "Bloody Mary." Men 
had suffered cruel and unjust death in the reign of Henry 



THE FAILURE OF THE REACTION 



269 




Martyrs' Memorial, Oxford 
Raised to commemorate the death of Cranmer and his fellow-martyrs; the 
actual site of the burning is a little distance away. 



270 PROTESTANT ADVANCE AND CATHOLIC REACTION 

VIII ; better men than Fisher and More have never gone to 
the scaffold. But these executions did not affect the current 
of events as did the burning of unknown women and humble 
commoners in the days of Mary. 

242. Mary's Foreign Policy: the Loss of Calais. In foreign 
policy, too, the queen failed. The marriage to Philip brought 
her the support of Spain but also the renewed hostility of 
The war with France. In the war that inevitably followed, 
France. England lost Calais, her last possession on French 
soil. England was better off without Calais, but the loss 
wounded the national pride. Far worse was the difficulty that 
arose between Philip and the aged pope, Paul IV, who was a 
native of Naples and bitterly resented the Spanish activities 
Trouble with in southern Italy. Thus Mary found herself at 
papacy. war eve n with the Holy See! Cardinal Pole, who 
had succeeded Cranmer as archbishop of Canterbury, was 
suspected of heresy. The English people began to feel that 
there was surely something wrong with the Roman system, 
when the head of the church could ally himself with the enemies 
of the land and make war on a queen so loyal and so Catholic 
as Mary Tudor. 

243. The Last Days of Mary Tudor. But there was no 
rising. It was known that the queen was dying, and the nation 
Tragedy of refused to add to her sorrows. The last days of 
Mary's life. Mary Tudor _were days of deep gloom and despair. 
She knew that Elizabeth would soon succeed her and she 
realized that her work would then be undone, as she had un- 
done that of her father and brother. When her reign closed, 
Catholicism as an ecclesiastical system in England was thor- 
oughly discredited. And for this result the methods and 
purposes of the queen herself were chiefly responsible. 

244. Summary. In ten years England had passed from the 
English form of Catholicism of Henry VIII to the Protestantism 
of Cranmer and back to the Roman Catholicism of Mary and 
Cardinal Pole. Many a priest who said mass in Latin in 
1547 read the English Prayer Book two years later and was 



SUMMARY 



271 



ordered to say mass once more in the reign of Mary. It was a 
difficult time for the individual conscience, though it is likely 
that the masses had not yet come to any clear Th d . f . - 
convictions on religious matters. There was an toward 
evident drift toward Protestantism, but it was a Protestantism - 
sluggish movement. Peter Martyr, a famous Swiss reformer 
who was residing at Oxford, wrote in 1550: "The business of 
religion is making progress in this country, not indeed with the 
success and ardour that I could wish but yet far more than our 
sins deserve." Mary did her part, though it was uninten- 
tional, to develop English Protestantism. Her persecution 
not only caused a reaction against her faith, but it drove 
hundreds of Protestants to the reformed centers of the Conti- 
nent where they came in touch with the newer ideas of Protes- 
tantism. And by causing the laws of Henry and Edward to be 
repealed she gave the English people freedom to choose what 
form of religion they wanted, and the nation finally chose the 
matured faith of Thomas Cranmer. 

REFERENCES 

The rule of Somerset. — Gardiner, Student's History of England, 412- 
416; Innes, History of England, 298-302; Tout, Advanced History of Great 
Britain, 35 2 ~357- 

Cranmer and the Prayer Book. — Fletcher, Introductory History of Eng- 
land, I, ii, 92-95; Innes, Cranmer, c. xi; Pollard, Cranmer, c. ix. 

The rule of Northumberland. — Cross, History of England, 352-355; 
Gardiner, 416-421; Innes, History of England, 302-305; Tout, 357-360. 

Lady Jane Grey. — Fletcher, I, ii, 107-113; Innes, History of England, 
305-308; Pollard, Cranmer, 292-302; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 
436-439; Stone, Mary I, 330-345. 

The Catholic reaction. — Cross, 358-365; Fletcher, I, ii, 1 14-128; 
Gardiner, 421-427; Innes, History of England, 308-313; Oman, History of 
England, 314-321; Ransome, 439-447; Stone, Mary I; Tout, 361-367. 

The Marian persecution. — Beard, Introduction to the English Historians, 
281-294 (Pollard); Fletcher, I, ii, 128-132; Innes, Cranmer, c. xiii; Pollard, 
Cranmer, cc. xii-xiii; Stone, 371-393. 



CHAPTER XII 
THE TRIUMPH OF ANGLICANISM 



245. The Problem of the Succession. 1558. When Mary 
Tudor died (in November, 1558) the succession was again 
theoretically in doubt. According to the laws of descent as 
The claims of understood by Roman Catholics (and England was 
Mary Stuart. st [\[ officially in the Catholic communion), Mary 
Stuart was the legitimate heiress ; but Henry's will, which 
was founded on a parliamentary statute, designated Elizabeth. 
Though Mary Stuart was of Tudor blood and directly descended 
from Henry VII, there were excellent reasons, aside from the 
statute, for rejecting her claims : she was queen of Scotland 
and dauphiness of France ; with England and Ireland added to 
the possessions already held by her own and her husband's 
family, Mary Stuart would become the first monarch in Chris- 
tendom. The union of Britain and France, the old dream of the 
The European Hundred Years' War, might now have been realized; 
situation. Dut England could not endure the thought of being 
governed from Paris. A few hours after Mary Tudor's death, 
Elizabeth, the daughter of Anne Boleyn, was proclaimed Queen gf 
England and began her glorious reign of nearly forty-five years. 

246. Queeii Elizabeth. 1 Elizabeth came to the throne as a 

mature woman twenty-five years of age. The Tudors took 

pride in mental accomplishments, and Elizabeth 
Queen Eliza- JV , , , , __ r . _ . . . 

beth: person- like her father, Henry, and her cousin, the unfor- 

aiity and tunate Lady Jane, was carefully educated. Though 

a princess, she had not wholly escaped the severe 

lessons of experience in a rough world : during the reign of her 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 213, 218; Innes, I, 326-333; Kendall, No. 53; Robinson, No. 129; 
Tuell and Hatch, Nos. 33 (Ascham), 34 (Green). Most of the selections in the source 
books are from Melville's Memoirs. 

272 



ry 



QUEEN ELIZABETH 



2 73 



sister Mary she was the object of constant suspicion on the 
part of the government. A rising in favor of Elizabeth and 
Protestantism actually had occurred four years earlier; but 







Queen Elizabeth 
The "Ermine portrait.' 



Elizabeth was too shrewd to become involved in any treason- 
able movements and escaped with a brief residence in the 
Tower. Like all the Tudors she was willful and stubborn, but 
she also had the Tudor love of approbation, and like the other 
rulers of the family she had a profound respect for the senti- 



274 



THE TRIUMPH OF ANGLICANISM 



ment of the nation. She had inherited in full measure the 
frivolous nature of her mother, the stupendous vanity of her 
father, and the niggardly spirit of her grandfather Henry VII, 
though this did not extend to what she considered her per- 
sonal needs : at the time of her death she is said to have 
possessed 3000 gowns. But she was also shrewd, spirited, 
and independent ; she was determined in her purposes, and 
in every real crisis she displayed remarkable strength and 
self-reliance. 

247. Her Ministers. During her entire reign Queen Eliza- 
beth was the actual ruler of the kingdom, though the policies 
of the government were 
often those of her advis- 
ers rather than her own. 
The queen had the ad- 
vantage of living in an 
age when the intellect of 
England flourished as 
never before. There 
was, therefore, no 
dearth of able counsel- 
ors, and Elizabeth exer- 
cised great discretion in 
her choice of high ofn- 
cials. During the earlier 
part of her reign two 
men held the chief places 
in her council : William 
Cecil, later created Lord 

T JT , , . ^ Burleigh, 

Lord Burleigh. b ' 

one of the 

most capable among 

English statesmen, who was secretary of state ; and Matthew 

Matthew Parker, a clear-headed theologian and able eccle- 

Parker. siastical statesman who succeeded Reginald Pole as 

archbishop of Canterbury. Both of these men had decided Prot- 




William Cecil, Lord Burleigh 
From a portrait by Gheeraerts. 



THE CHIEF PROBLEMS 275 

estant leanings, but neither was an extremist. Associated with 
Burleigh and Parker was Nicholas Bacon, who held Nicholas 
the high office of lord chancellor, but played a Bacon - 
lesser part in the queen's government. The three were all 
Cambridge men and firmly believed in a church establishment 
of the type that had been outlined in the reforms of Thomas 
Cranmer. 

248. The Chief Problems. The two questions that had been 
uppermost at the accession of Mary Tudor, religion and the 
queen's marriage, also came into immediate prominence at the 
beginning of the new reign. However, the settlement that was 
reached was vastly different. Both for personal and political 
reasons, perhaps, Elizabeth did not marry. For political, 
perhaps also for personal reasons, she made the English church 
Protestant. In determining the form of the The religious 
religious settlement, the queen had a choice among settlement, 
several differing types of worship and creed. Two great move- 
ments were at their height in the first year of her reign. The 
Council of Trent, the world-council of the Catholic church, 
had resumed its sessions and was making rapid progress in weed- 
ing out abuses. In Geneva the great Calvin had developed an 
extreme form of Protestantism which aimed at a republican 
system in church government, simplicity in the ceremonial of 
the church, and the acceptance of Protestant doctrines of the 
reformed type. But neither of these could possibly attract 
the English queen. Roman Catholicism denied the validity 
of her mother's marriage and left Elizabeth herself no rights 
whatever to the English throne. Nor is it likely that Elizabeth, 
who loved power as all the Tudors did, would have been willing 
to diminish her own authority in the kingdom by accepting the 
papal supremacy in the church. Equally un- . . 

attractive was Calvinism, as it, too, denied the 
authority of the sovereign over the church. Public sentiment 
probably favored a return to the Anglican system of Henry 
VIII ; but Elizabeth saw clearly that no form of Catholicism was 
now possible but that of Rome. The outcome was that the 



276 THE TRIUMPH OF ANGLICANISM 

Anglican church was reorganized along the lines followed by 
the Protestant princes on the Continent ; but care was taken to 
proceed with caution and to avoid extremes. 

249. The Settlement of the Church. 1 The first necessity was 
to fill the episcopal offices with men who could be trusted to give 
The appoint- l° va l assistance in the work of transforming the 
ment of church. The great number of vacancies that ex- 

is ops. isted at the time made this a relatively easy task. 

Archbishop Pole, who was under suspicion of heresy during the 
last months of Mary's life, was naturally unable to act with 
much vigor and allowed several sees to remain vacant. He died 
within twenty-four hours of Queen Mary's death, and several of 
the other bishops followed him to the grave within the next 
few weeks. Other vacancies were created by plain deprivation : 
in all fourteen bishops were either deprived of their offices or 
induced to resign. As soon as suitable candidates could be 
found, these vacancies were filled, and gradually the bench 
of bishops in the house of lords was filled up with men of 
the reformed faith. 

In the work of reconstruction Archbishop Parker adopted the 
principle of Cranmer that the English church should accept the 
Cranmer's religious system that came into England with Saint 
principle Augustine in 597 ; what had been developed since 

a opte . t k at t » me m jgj lt k e re j ec ted. This principle allowed 

the retention of the episcopacy and the use of an elaborate 
ritual, for these had developed very early in the church. Cran- 
mer's principle also allowed considerable freedom in the matter 
of doctrine, as the points of belief that were most in dispute 
were not formally and officially accepted and enforced by the 
church until long after the coming of Saint Augustine. Tran- 
substantiation, for example, did not become a dogma before the 
days of Lanfranc ; celibacy of the priests was not generally 
insisted upon before the pontificate of Gregory VII, who was 
Lanfranc's contemporary ; confession was not made com- 
pulsory before the time of Innocent III. 

1 Gardiner, 429-431. 



THE ACTS OF UNIFORMITY AND SUPREMACY 277 

250. The Acts of Uniformity and Supremacy. 1559. As 

convocation at the opening of the reign was controlled by 
Catholic bishops who had not yet been deprived, the initial 
steps toward' a reorganization of the church along reformed 
lines were taken by parliament. A few months after Eliza- 
beth's accession two important acts were passed : The Act of 
the Act of Supremacy and the Act of Uniformity. Supremacy. 
The former restored to the crown the supreme authority in 
the church as it had existed in the days of Henry VIII and 
Edward VI, with the difference, however, that the supremacy 
was lodged with the government rather than with the person 
of the sovereign. The Act of Uniformity aimed to 

•* •* • • A U- A TheAct0f 

secure uniiormity m ceremonies and worship, and Uniformity: 
prescribed Cranmer's Prayer Book in an amended ^ e Pra y er 
form. Heavy penalties were provided for failure to 
use this form of worship and for making changes and omissions. 
These penalties, it was hoped, would discourage the continuance 
of Catholic worship ; but it was soon found that the most vio- 
lent enemies of the Prayer Book were to be found among the 
Protestants themselves. 

An organized church presents three distinct and important 
phases : its government, its ritual, its creed. It was not Cran- 
mer's or Parker's purpose to interfere with the hierarchy that 
had governed the church during the centuries, only to define 

the duties of the various officials and bring them 

1 • • , r™ • Authority of 

into subordination to the crown. This was accom- the crown in 

plished by virtually abolishing convocation and by e P isc °P al 

. . . , , appointments, 

giving the crown complete authority in the matter 

of episcopal appointments. The cathedral chapters, whose 
right to elect bishops had been theoretically recognized for four 
hundred years and more, l were retained ; but they were for- 
bidden to elect without a license from the king (conge oVelire). 
It was also provided that this license should be accompanied by 
another document called a " letter missive" which should con- 
tain the name of the candidate whom the chapter was instructed 

3 Review sec. 61. 



278 THE TRIUMPH OF ANGLICANISM 

to choose. The election by the chapter was thus reduced to a 
Bishops chosen mere formality. At present the English bishops are 
by prime virtually chosen by the prime minister, who may or 

may not be in sympathy with the Anglican church. 
251. Ritual and Creed. The matter of the ritual was covered 
by the Prayer Book and the Act of Uniformity. The Prayer 
Book was the instrument by which the reformers hoped to reach 
and educate the masses who could not be expected to appreciate 
the distinctions and refinements of doctrine that delighted the 
theologians. No changes in the official creed except such as 
were implied in the form of worship were made for some years : 
The Thirty- m ^ act England can hardly be said to have had 
nine Articles, such a creed before 1563, when convocation drew 

up and signed the " Thirty-nine Articles ;" but 
this statement did not receive parliamentary sanction and 
legal force before 1571. 

The reason for this delay is to be sought in the confused and 
dangerous situation of the time. Public sentiment was con- 
stantly changing and all shades of belief could be found from 
Uncertain the most extreme Calvinism to the sternest Roman- 

state of public ism. The government was not anxious to search 
opinion. hearts and to punish for opinions held, but was 

satisfied with outward conformity and attendance on the pre- 
scribed worship in the expectation that the coming generation 
would learn to love the Prayer Book and be loyal to the new 
standards. Menacing, too, was the situation abroad. After 
the Council of Trent Catholicism took up the fight with renewed 
Catholicism vigor : the Jesuit order was at work in Protestant 
becomes lands winning large numbers, especially families 

of prominence, back to the old faith. The Catholic 
princes, most of them following the leadership of Philip II, 
were striving for the same results by war and diplomacy. The 
Queen's government feared that harsh measures might drive 
the Romanist faction into an alliance with the Catholic forces 
on the Continent ; but circumstances soon forced the govern- 
ment to take a decided stand on religious matters. In 1570 



THE CATHOLIC POWERS: MARY STUART 279 

the papacy assumed a more aggressive attitude ; and the follow- 
ing year Parliament replied by giving the English church a 
reformed creed. The " Thirty-nine Articles," which are still 
the standard of faith among the Anglicans of the British Empire 
and the Episcopalians of our own country, are chiefly a revision 
of the ''Forty- two Articles" drawn up by Cranmer in the last 

year of Edward's reign. 1 Thus it was Thomas 

J ,_.... Cranmer's 

Cranmer who gave the English church its creed as place in the 

well as its forms of worship. The influence of Reformation 

, movement. 

Henry VIII and the work of parliament are impor- 
tant in the history of English Protestantism, but chiefly in giv- 
ing force to the ideas and principles of Archbishop Cranmer. 

252. The Catholic Powers: Mary Stuart. When parlia- 
ment began the work of reorganization in 1558, no power in 
Europe was in position to interfere. The Catholic monarchs 
would gladly have seen Elizabeth deposed, but the only possible 
Catholic candidate was Mary Stuart and her accession was not 
seriously considered. It was a part of the Spanish policy to 
prevent at all hazards a union of France and the British king- 
doms, as the Channel would then be a closed passage, held by 
their combined fleets, and Philip II would be cut p hilip n and 
off from his possessions in the Netherlands, which the candidacy 
were at the time the richest country in Europe. ° ary 
Two months after the passage of the acts of supremacy and 
uniformity, Mary became queen of France by the death of the 
king, Henry II. It seemed as if England with wise management 
would steer clear of foreign difficulties and that the reign would 
be one of quiet and peace. 

But a year later (1560) Mary's husband, Francis II, died and 
his brother ascended the throne. The beautiful queen of only 
seventeen years was now a widow with Scotland Death f 
alone as her kingdom. The death of the imbecile Francis II; 
Francis made a complete change in the diplomacy ar y awi ow - 
of western Europe. The interest of all Europe became centered 
upon the ambitions of three women : Catherine de Medici, 

1 See sec. 235. 



28o 



THE TRIUMPH OF ANGLICANISM 



the queen-mother of France, who controlled that kingdom 
through her worthless sons ; Elizabeth, queen of England, 
Three ambi- who, the Catholic world held, had no right what- 
tious women. ever ^ h er crown ; anc [ Mary Stuart, queen of 
Scotland, young, attractive, and ambitious, whose hopes looked 




Mary Stuart 



forward to the throne in Westminster. In none of these women 
were the virtues that we ordinarily associate with womanhood 
conspicuously present ; nor were they noted for striking abilities 
as rulers or administrators : Elizabeth alone showed any real 
understanding of the problems of the age and she wisely com- 
mitted the cares of statesmanship into the hands of capable 
men. 



THE FAILURE OF MARY'S CANDIDACY 



281 



The chief result of Mary's widowhood and return to Scotland, 
so far as England was concerned, was to give the Catholic party 
a candidate for the English throne. Mary Stuart could now 
confidently count on the active support of Philip The Catholics 
II. Now began a long intermittent struggle rally about 
between Elizabeth and her Catholic enemies in ary uar " 
Britain and on the Continent. For seventeen years the webs of 

intrigue were woven at home 
and abroad. In this fight 
the Romanists were the ag- 
gressors ; but the queen 
foiled them at every point. 
253. The Failure of 
Mary's Candidacy. The 
failure of these movements 
in the earlier years of the 
reign was due to several 
causes. Of first importance 
was the native loyalty of 
the English people who re- 
sented any suggestion of 
interference and dictation 
from abroad, even from 
Rome. Philip Mary's 
II had many difficulties. 

irons in the fire, especially 
did a threatening revolt in 
the Netherlands prove an awkward hindrance. Nor could the 
Catholic party count much on Scotch support for its plans, for 
the Scotch people under the leadership of the energetic Calvin- 
ist John Knox had become Protestant. 1 Of great Elizabeth's 
importance, too, was the fact that Elizabeth was marriage 
unmarried. Her supposed desire to find a suitable neg0 
husband was her strongest diplomatic asset. 2 If serious danger 

1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 36; Innes, I, 325-328; selection from Knox. 

2 Innes, I, 341-344- 




John Knox 

After a painting in the possession of Lord 
Somerville. 



282 THE TRIUMPH OF ANGLICANISM 

should threaten from any quarter of Europe, it might be averted 
by prolonged negotiations looking toward a matrimonial alli- 
ance : for it would not seem proper to make war on a future wife 
or daughter-in-law. At some time or other almost every mar- 
riageable prince in Europe, from Philip II of Spain to impover- 
ished princelings in Germany, was a favored candidate for the 
queen's hand. With Elizabeth it was all merely a diplomatic 
game, but a game that* she played with brilliant success for 
nearly twenty years. 

254. Mary's Marriages: the Revolt of the Scotch Nobles. 
But the chief cause of the Catholic failure was Mary Stuart's 
scandalous behavior in the matter of her own marriages. Four 

Mary's second y ears after her return to Scotland, the young 
marriage: queen took as king-consort her cousin Henry 

Darniey. Darnley of the Lennox family. As the Lennoxes 

were related to both the Tudors and the Stuarts, the match 
was regarded as an advantageous one. But the queen, who 
had hoped for a husband who could help her support the burdens 
of state, soon discovered to her great chagrin that she had mar- 
Darnley ried a worthless trirler. After a year and a half of 

assassinated, married life the queen was widowed for a second time; 
for Darnley was murdered by a group of conspirators among 
whom the earl of Bothwell was the chief. 1 Only three months 
later, Mary was Bothwell's bride. For the moment Mary was 
Mary's third impossible as Catholic candidate for the English 
marriage: throne; for Bothwell was already a married man; 

furthermore, he was a Protestant, and a Protestant 
service had been used at the marriage. Such sinful disregard of 
the rules of the church no honest Catholic could overlook. Pius 
V sorrowfully cut off all communication with the erring queen. 

The dissatisfied Scotch lords took quick action. A month 
Mary deposed- ^ ater t ^ ie rova l bride was made a prisoner and con- 
prisoner at fined in Loch Leven castle. Here on a lonely 
oc even. } s i anc [ s h e S pent nearly a year; but in the spring 
of 1568 she managed to escape. 2 Her supporters rallied and 

1 Innes, I, 337-341. 2 Kendall, No. 55. 



MARY AS A PRISONER IN ENGLAND. 1568-1587 283 

fought the Protestant nobles at Langside, where the queen was 
defeated. Mary fled to England and threw herself on the mercy 
of her cousin and rival Elizabeth. 1 Her infant son Her fli ht t 
James, in whose favor she had been forced to England, 
abdicate while a prisoner at Loch Leven castle, 1568 ' 
continued to rule in Scotland, while rival nobles plotted and 
fought for the regency. 




Loch Leven Castle 
Mary Stuart was imprisoned here from June, 1567 to May, 1568. 

255. Mary as a Prisoner in England. 1568-1587. It is 

impossible to determine whether satisfaction or embarrassment 
was the stronger emotion that Elizabeth felt when she learned 
that Mary was on English soil. The Scotch Mary in 
queen had hoped for hospitality in England En s land - 
or for permission to continue her journey to France. She 
was disappointed in both : for nearly nineteen years she was 
kept a prisoner in England. 2 The imprisonment was not 

1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 37. 

2 Bates and Coman, 286-288 (Burns, Lament of Mary). 



284 THE TRIUMPH OF ANGLICANISM 

severe : Mary was, indeed, deprived of her liberty, but she 
enjoyed all the comforts of castle life and was allowed a 
large number of servants. 

256. The Papal Attack. At Loch Leven Mary had become 
reconciled to the Roman church, and once more the enemies of 
Elizabeth could take hope. But their movements had to be 
planned and executed with the utmost care and secrecy, for 
Elizabeth virtually kept Mary as a hostage to insure the good 
behavior of her Catholic subjects. The two English border 
earls, however, raised the standard of revolt in Mary's interest 
Elizabeth m tne lowing Y ear ( i 5 6 9)j but the rising was soon 

deposed by the put down. Equally futile was an attempt on the 
pope. 1570. p an Q £ p- us y tQ use t j ie Q ^ wea p 0n f excom- 
munication against the English heretic queen. A bull issued- 
in 1570 excommunicated Elizabeth, deprived her of her right 
to the kingdom, and released her subjects from their pledges 
of loyalty ; x the queen was thus virtually deposed so far as the 
papacy could still exercise authority over princes. It was a 
most unwise step to take, however, as it forced the adherents of 
Difficulties of tn e old faith to choose between disloyalty to the 
the English queen, which meant treason in English law, and 
Catholics. disobedience to the head of the church, which might 

mean peril to their souls, for all who adhered to her were "to 
be cut off from the unity of the body of Christ." 2 The weapon 
proved useless, and the papacy has never since attempted to 
depose a sovereign. The chief result of the pope's action was 
that parliament felt compelled to take the final step in the 
separation from Rome and made the " Thirty-nine Articles" 
the authoritative creed of the kingdom. All priests were ordered 
to subscribe to these, and thus the breach between Anglicanism 
and Romanism was made complete. 

The decade of the seventies saw few developments in the 
European English situation. It was none the less a stirring 

events. period, with the interests of the English people 

widening as never before. The coming of Mary Stuart, the 

1 Cheyney, No. 220; Gardiner, 441-442. 2 Cheyney, No. 221. 



SEMINARY PRIESTS AND JESUITS IN ENGLAND 285 

rising in the north, and the papal bull had come in successive 
years (1568-15 70) ; these events were followed by a plot against 
Elizabeth's life (1571) and the massacre of Saint Bartholo- 
mew's in France the following year. This was also the period 
of the Dutch revolt under the masterful leadership of William the 
Silent. The decade also witnessed repeated and successful 
piratical incursions on the part of the English sailors into Span- 
ish American waters. All these events helped to intensify 
the hatred for Catholic Spain, to strengthen Protestant feeling 
in England, and to quicken the loyalty of Englishmen to their 
strong-hearted queen. 

257. Seminary Priests and Jesuits in England. 1 In 1580 
the papal attack was renewed, and a struggle began that 
lasted for ten years. The Catholics saw clearly that unless 
their priesthood in England could be recruited and the faithful 
kept in close touch with the church, Romanism cardinal Allen 
must inevitably perish in the English kingdom, and the semi- 
William Allen, a devout Englishman who was nar yP ness - 
finally honored with the cardinalate, tried to meet this need 
by founding a seminary for English Catholics at Douai in 
northern France. In a few years these "seminary priests" 
became quite numerous and active in England ; but they were 
not sufficiently aggressive to accomplish much in the way of 
converting the nation. In 1580, however, two men English 
appeared in England who were filled with the J esuits - 158 °- 
spirit of conquest : they were the Jesuits Campion and Parsons. 
Both were Englishmen. Campion was a man of the highest 
character, enthusiastic for his faith, and filled with the mis- 
sionary spirit. Parsons, on the other hand, was a common 
plotter. Their activity continued but a year, when Campion 
was seized and hanged along with several others, 2 while Parsons 
escaped and fled the country. Campion was exe- The "recu- 
cuted under a new set of "recusancy laws," which sancy laws." 
made the practice of Catholic rites a crime. 3 These laws 

1 Gardiner, 453-454. 3 Gardiner, 454. 

2 Cheyney, No. 224; see also Nos. 225-227. 



286 THE TRIUMPH OF ANGLICANISM 

were passed earlier in the same year (1581) to nullify the work of 
the Jesuits ; but the order did not cease its activities. 

258. Catholic Plots: the Association. The years 1582- 
1586 were years full of personal danger to the queen of England. 
In general all the various plots looked forward to the assassina- 
tion of Elizabeth ; the prompt invasion of England from north- 
ern France or the Netherlands, where Spain had a large army ; 
the liberation and accession of Mary Stuart ; and the reestablish- 
Cathoiic ment of Roman Catholicism in England. In these 
plots. plots the Jesuit Parsons and the Spanish king were 
the prime movers. In 1 583 the English discovered that Philip II 
had a part in these plots, and the Spanish ambassador was driven 
from the land. The following year news came of the assassina- 
tion of William of Orange at the open instigation of the Span- 
ish king, and Englishmen grew fearful for the life of the queen. 

It was clearly understood that the attempts on Elizabeth's 
life were all in the interest of the captive Mary, and the English 
were determined that no profit should come to her from the 
queen's death. Soon after the fall of the Dutch hero, loyal 
The"Asso- subjects of Elizabeth formed themselves into an 
ciation." "Association" whose members pledged themselves 

to take the life of any pretender in whose interest the queen 
might be murdered. Early the next year the aims of the Asso- 
ciation were given confirmation by parliament. 

259. Babington's Plot: Execution of Mary. 1587. The 
last plot against Elizabeth's life, called Babington's plot from 
Babington's its chief promoter, took form in 1586. Wal- 
P lot - singham, one of the queen's secretaries, a shrewd 
Englishman who possessed the instincts of a detective and had 
reduced espionage to a system, discovered the conspiracy and 
secured the death of the plotters. He also charged the im- 
Execution of prisoned queen with complicity in the plot. Mary 
Mary Stuart. Stuart was tried by a court created for the purpose, 
convicted, and executed (1587). 1 

The unhappy queen has been idealized in art and literature 

1 Kendall, No. 58. 



THE SPANISH ATTACK: THE ARMADA 



287 



and the picture presented is usually one that calls forth sym- 
pathy. But it should be remembered that outward attractive- 
ness and a clever mind are not all that should be looked for in 
a queen. For her fate the activities of her friends are more to 

blame than those of her 
enemies. Apparently 
the Catholic powers did 
not realize the hopeless- 
ness of Mary's cause in 
England ; it is not likely 
that her life would have 
been safe a single day if 
Elizabeth had fallen a 
victim to assassination. 
The queen Was Mary 

signed the Stuart's fate 

1 ,i deserved? 

death war- 
rant with much reluc- 
tance and is not to be 
blamed for Mary Stu- 
art's death. The Scotch 
queen was condemned 
and executed by an in- 
dignant nation ; Eliza- 
beth merely yielded to 
and carried out the popular demand. 

260. The Spanish Attack: the Armada. Before her death 
Mary made a will in which she transferred her supposed rights to 
the English crown to Philip II. In England such a document 
could have no force or value ; but it gave the Spanish king a 
further pretext for attacking England. He also p hilip pre pares 
urged his own descent from Edward III who had to attack 
ruled six generations earlier. Realizing the imprac- ng an 
ticability of uniting the crowns of England and Spain, he seems 
to have intended that the kingdom of England should go to his 
daughter Isabella. 




After 



mm* 

Philip II 
painting by J. Pusst 



288 THE TRIUMPH OF ANGLICANISM 

Philip had other and better reasons for making war on Eliza- 
beth. The English seamen had surely taken unwarranted 
liberties in the American waters ; and in assisting the rebels in 
the Netherlands England had virtually invited war. Mary 
was executed in February, 1587, and Philip hoped to invade 
England during the summer of the same year. But, while he 
was preparing for the expedition, Francis Drake made a raid 
along the Spanish coast, which proved so destructive to the 
Spanish stores and ships that the invasion had to be postponed 
to the following year. 1 

In 1588 the " Invincible Armada" appeared in English waters. 
It was a large fleet of about 130 ships, though not all of these 
The "invinci- were effective in fight. Against these the English 
ble Armada." nac [ assembled an even more numerous fleet, but 
the individual ships were smaller. On the whole, however, the 
advantage was with the English. The battle was to be fought 
in the Channel, where the queen's captains knew every head- 
land and inlet, while the Spanish pilots had but little knowledge 
of these waters. The English artillery was better and was more 
effectively used ; but the greatest advantage of all was the fact 
that on the English ships were the best sailors and the greatest 
captains in the world. 

The battle in the Channel in 1588 is a landmark in the his- 
tory of naval warfare. For centuries the object of the captains 
The battle in was to come into close quarters with the enemy, 
the Channel. so t j iat hi s s hip might be boarded and seized. The 
battle would then be fought out on the opponent's deck, and 
for such fighting considerable forces of soldiery were required; 
the Armada was, accordingly, well manned in this respect. 
But that year the English employed new tactics : their plan 
was to fight from a distance, to destroy or disable the enemy's 
ships. In such warfare the soldiers on the Spanish ships were 
not only of no service, but a positive hindrance to effective 
action. 2 

Early in May, the Spanish Armada gathered in Lisbon har- 

1 Gardiner, 458. 2 Ibid., 459-460. 



DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA; RESULTS 289 

bor and on the 20th proceeded northward. But a storm inter- 
fered with the progress of the fleet and it was The Armada 
compelled to seek refuge in Corunna. It was not sails - 1588 - 
a very hopeful host that gathered here ; the Spanish admiral, 
who had no knowledge of what naval warfare meant, urged that 
the venture be given up ; but Philip's purpose was immovable. 
He hoped that the fleet would at least reach the coast of Flan- 
ders in safety and assist in transporting his forces in the Spanish 
Netherlands to English soil. It was this junction of forces 
that the English were determined to prevent. 

261. Defeat of the Armada; 1 Results. While the Span- 
iards were still at Corunna, the major part of the English fleet 
was gathering in Plymouth harbor, while a smaller flotilla was 
holding a position at the east of the Channel. The Plymouth 
fleet was commanded by Admiral Howard with Drake and 
Hawkins as vice admirals. The English plan was to act chiefly 
on the defensive, to harry the rear of the Armada, Tactics of 
and gradually to hammer the great fleet into the English 
pieces. On July 12 the Spaniards weighed anchor 
at Corunna ; seven days later their sails were sighted off Liz- 
ard Point. 2 During the night of July 19 and 20, the English 
worked their way out of Plymouth harbor in the face of the 
wind from the south which was driving the enemy up the 
Channel. They did not open fire before the Armada had 
passed. For a week the two fleets sailed eastward together, 
renewing the fight from time to time. No great impression 
was made on the Armada, but the Spaniards were prevented 
from carrying out their plans and found it necessary to seek 
refuge in Calais. 

The decisive action was fought at Gravelines, a few miles 
from Calais, on July 29. The night before, while The fight at 
the Armada was at anchor in Calais roads, the Eng- Gravelines. 
lish had sent fire ships in among the Spanish vessels. The 
Spaniards became panic stricken ; they cut their cables and 
started for the open sea. In their attack the next morning the 

1 Innes, I, 365-375. 2 Bates and Coman, 288-293 (Macaulay). 



290 



THE TRIUMPH OF ANGLICANISM 



English were victorious, and the Armada took the only possible 
chance to escape, — flight eastward into the North Sea. The 
journey back to Spain around the north of Scotland was a 
series of disasters, and only half of the "invincible" fleet found 




The English Send Fire Ships into the Armada 

From a contemporary broadside. The fire ships are drifting into the midst 
of the Spanish fleet. On the shore is Queen Elizabeth (on horseback) with 
her artillery and pikemen ready to prevent a landing. 

its way back to Spanish waters. The English loss had been 
slight : one ship and one hundred men. 1 

The defeat of the Spanish Armada had far-reaching results. 
The power of Spain was paralyzed. The Catholic party gave 
up its desperate attempt to displace Elizabeth and began a 

1 Robinson, No. 130; Gardiner, 462. 



SUMMARY 291 

search for a suitable candidate to succeed the queen after her 
death. The Romanist reaction was given a serious The Romanist 
check which was emphasized the following year by reaction 
the victory at Ivry of Henry IV, the Protestant checked - 
candidate for the French crown. The confidence of the Eng- 
lish nation was immensely strengthened. The English were 
now in position to reach out in all directions. The idea of 
a British kingdom began gradually to be coupled with the 
newer dream of a British empire. With Spain removed as a 
dangerous competitor, England began to reach out for her 
share of the wealth that was coming to Europe in Spanish ships 
from the East and the West. Less than twenty years after the 
battle in the Channel, the English were building Growth of 
colonies in America and trading in the East Indies. English man- 
Spain still claimed North America for herself : it time power ' 
had been assigned to her by the pope when he drew the de- 
marcation line a century earlier ; but England had repudiated 
Rome and had lost her fear of Spain. 

262. Summary. Queen Elizabeth came to the English 
throne at a fortunate hour : the hands of her enemies were 
bound. While Mary Stuart was queen of France, Elizabeth 
could count on effective support from Philip II. For two 
years Elizabeth was reasonably secure on her throne, and 
during these two years the queen and her ministers rebuilt the 
Anglican church along Protestant lines. But when the. wid- 
owed Mary Stuart returned to Scotland in 1561, the period of. 
security was ended. The nation was threatened with great 
danger. The Presbyterian movement in Scotland, however, 
gave Mary Stuart enough to do for a time, and in a few years 
her indiscretions made her impossible as a queen in her own 
kingdom. In 1568 she fled to England where she was kept as 
a hostage for nearly nineteen years. Danger again threatened in 
1569 and the following year; but England and Elizabeth es- 
caped once more. Spain and France were more hostile toward 
each other than toward Protestant England. Religious wars 
were devastating France; Philip II was wasting his resources 



292 THE TRIUMPH OF ANGLICANISM 

in the Netherlands ; no Catholic power was prepared to strike 
at the island kingdom. Ten years of comparative peace fol- 
lowed ; but in 1580 the Jesuit order. began to operate in Eng- 
land and the quiet was at an end. Now came a series of 
plots looking toward the assassination of Elizabeth in the 
interest of the captive Mary Stuart. The outcome of these 
was the execution of the Scottish queen in 1587. The next 
year the storm that had threatened so long broke over the 
Channel ; but when it had passed it was the cause of Eng- 
land's enemies that had been defeated. England was stronger 
than ever before. 

REFERENCES 

Early years of Queen Elizabeth. — Beesly, Queen Elizabeth, c. ii. 

Elizabeth and the English church. — Beard, Introduction to the English 
Historians, 295-306 (Dixon); Beesly, c. ii; Fletcher, Introductory History of 
England, I, ii, 150-154; Innes, History of England, 367-372; Ransome, Ad- 
vanced History of England, 449-452; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 

370-375. 

Mary Stuart. — Beesly, cc. iv, ix; Brown, Short History of Scotland, 325- 
344; Creighton, Age of Elizabeth, 65-82; Cheyney, Short History of England, 
340-345; Fletcher, I, ii, 154-164; Innes, 320-325; Lang, Short History of Scot- 
land, 129-142; Maccunn, Mary Stuart; Oman, History of England, 326-330; 
Ransome, 454-458; Tout, 375~385- 

The Jesuit mission. — Beesly, c. vii; Creighton, 155-166; Innes, 337-340. 

The Armada. — Beesly, c. x; Creighton, 1 81-186; Cross, History of 
England, 394-396; Fletcher, I, ii, 179-186; Innes, 346-350; Oman 337-340; 
Ransome, 469-472; Tout, 397-400. 



CHAPTER XIII 
THE AGE OF ELIZABETH 

263. Material Progress in the Sixteenth Century. The 

sixteenth century was an age of tremendous changes in the life 
and civilization of the English people. Most of these occurred 
during the life-time of Elizabeth. The queen was born while 
the Reformation movement was in its earliest stage ; she lived 
through times of intense religious agitation and Changes of the 
reaction ; but she finally saw her own ideas sue- Tudor period, 
cessfully realized. The religious change alone would suffice to 
make the period memorable, but it was only one of many. 
Old ways and ancient ideas were rapidly being discarded, and 
the England of Elizabeth's old age was not the England of her 
youth. The new forms of material and intellectual life were 
particularly evident during the last quarter of the century, 
which has therefore been called the " Elizabethan age." 

The closer contact with southern and eastern Europe, which 
Henry VII had done so much to promote, naturally resulted in 
the growth of new wants and necessities among the people. 
The English began to crave more comforts and luxuries than 
they had earlier enjoyed. The increasing knowledge of how 
the world lived beyond the seas of Britain was also Elizabethan 
a potent factor. It is said that three changes in homes - 
the English home were peculiarly evident in the days of Eliza- 
beth : the houses that were built were more comfortable ; the 
bed rooms were better and more richly furnished ; and the table- 
ware showed marked improvement. 1 

In earlier times all the houses except the more pretentious 
ones were built with an open hearth in the middle of the prin- 

1 Cheyney, No. 191 (Erasmus); Gardiner, 464-468; Kendall, No. 67 (Harrison). 

293 



294 THE AGE OF ELIZABETH 

cipal room and around this hearth the family gathered in cold 
weather ; here, too, the meals were cooked. The smoke found 
its way out through a lanthorn in the roof as in the Anglo- 
Saxon houses, and it was counted no annoyance to have it 
collect in the room. But in the queen's day men built fire- 
places with chimneys, to the great disgust of their elders who 




Ann Hathaway's Cottage, Stratford 
From a photograph by W. H. Dudley. 

missed their old discomforts. The windows, too, were being 
improved by the substitution of glass for horn and lattice. In 
Furnishings. the slee P in & rooms pillows became more common 
and the straw pallets gave place to more comfort- 
able bedding. Articles of pewter and tin took the place of the 
older wooden bowls and spoons on the table ; in the wealthier 
households silver ware was also coming into use. Carpets, too, 
were now regarded with much more favor than earlier. 

Considerable change is also seen in the matter of food and 

clothing. Earlier custom had called for four meals daily, but 

Food and in Tudor times the number was reduced to two : 

"and each one (except here and there some young 

hungrie stomach that cannot fast till dinner-time) contenteth 



ENGLISH INTEREST IN THE NEW WORLD 295 

himself with dinner and supper only." The Venetian trade 
had brought to England the luxuries of the Orient, especially 
its silks and spices. From other southern lands came wine, of 
which the Englishman recognized fifty-six varieties. From the 
New World came tobacco and the potato. Sir Walter Raleigh 
tried to cultivate these on his Irish estate ; the tobacco plant 
seems not to have flourished, but the experiment with the 
potato was apparently successful. 

264. English Interest in the New World. 1 These products 
and many others that came from the newly discovered lands in 
Africa and America together with the immense Interest in 
riches that flowed regularly from the Indies into America and 
the treasuries of Spain stirred up a desire in the e n ies ' 
English heart to sail the unknown seas and trade on the new 
shores. But the power of Philip II stood in the way : Spain 
claimed a monopoly of American enterprises ; and after Philip 
became king of Portugal (1580), all the wealth of the West and 
the East had to pass through his ports. 

The Spaniards had lost no time in making good their claim 
to the New World: before his return to Spain in 1493, Colum- 
bus planted a settlement on the island of Haiti which he named 
Isabella in honor of the great queen of Castile. In Spanish settle- 
1509, the year of Henry VIII's accession to the ments in the 
English kingship, settlements were founded on the es n ies " 
neighboring islands of Puerto Rico and Jamaica ; two years later 
Cuba was settled. During the second decade of the century, 
while the European monarchs were struggling for bits of Italian 
soil and Thomas Wolsey was chiefly concerned about the bal- 
ance of power in Europe, Spain extended her operations to the 
mainland about the Caribbean Sea, and in 15 19 she began the 
conquest of Mexico. Two years earlier Martin Luther had 
risen in opposition to the papacy, and the atten- Mexico and 
tion of the Continent outside of Spain was soon Peru - 
given almost wholly to the Protestant movement in Germany. 
Ten years later, when Henry VIII was in the midst of his fight 

1 Gardiner, 446-449. 



296 



THE AGE OF ELIZABETH 



with the papacy, the conquest of Peru was begun in earnest. 
Before Henry VIII's reign had closed, Spain had founded settle- 
ments in the Americas from northern Mexico to Valparaiso and 
Buenos Ayres. Trade on the American shores was forbidden 
to all but Spanish merchants. 

It was not to be expected that English seamen, who did not 
always respect the rights of English merchants, should make 

The English the Span- 
pirates, j s n c i a i ms 

a matter of conscience, 
especially since Protes- 
tant England looked on 
Philip II as the chief of 
her Catholic enemies. 
Accordingly there grew 
up a form of expeditions 
to the Spanish Ameri- 
can waters that were 
scarcely better than 
piracy. 

265. John Hawkins 
and Francis Drake. 
The pioneer among 
these dreaded English 
seamen was Sir John 
Hawkins, a ship captain 
from the Devon coun- 
try, whose father had made several expeditions to Spanish 
Sir John America about 1530. Sir John also enjoys the 

Hawkins. doubtful distinction of being the first English 

slaver. His operations in Guinea and the West Indies extended 
through nearly the entire reign of Queen Elizabeth. Among 
others who imitated Hawkins in piracy were Richard Grenville 
Devon and Sir Walter Raleigh, both of whom were Devon 

sailors. men, but particularly Francis Drake, a kinsman of 

John Hawkins, and probably the boldest seaman of his time. 




Sir Francis Drake 
From an engraving published in 1587. 



JOHN HAWKINS AND FRANCIS DRAKE 



297 



During the last three decades of the sixteenth century the 
most terrible name to Spanish ears was "the Dragon," Francis 
Drake. In a number of raids he visited Spanish 

. . . . iii. 1 • TT . Francis Drake. 

America, seizing and plundering ships. His great- 
est achievement, however, was the circumnavigation of the 
globe in the years 1577-1580. 1 With five little ships he left 




Drake's "Golden Hind" 
In this he sailed round the world, 1577-1580. 

Plymouth, but Drake's own ship alone saw the western coast of 
South America. Having secured vast plunder on the Peruvian 
coast and fearing to return through the Straits of Magellan, he 
continued his journey northward to Vancouver's Island. From 
this point he struck westward across the Pacific, and after many 
dangerous adventures returned to England by way of the Cape 
of Good Hope. He arrived in England at a time when the 
nation was in great fear of impending war with Spain ; and it 
was Drake's bold protest and advice that prevented the privy 
council from agreeing to a humiliating treaty with Philip II. 
The queen rewarded the great captain with the honors of 
knighthood and 10,000 pounds of the plundered bullion. 

1 Cheyney, No. 229; Innes, I, 344-351. 



THE AGE OF ELIZABETH 



266. Walter Raleigh: Virginia. Sir Walter Raleigh is also 
counted among the heroes of Devon, but his intellect was of a 
Walter finer quality than that of Drake or Hawkins ; his 

Raleigh. purposes were larger and his plans more enduring. 

It was Raleigh's idea 
that the power of Spain 
might be weakened not 
only by seizing her 
American treasure 
ships, but by appropri- 
ating and colonizing 
parts of the American 
mainland. His ideas 
were shared by his half- 
brother, Sir Humphrey 

Humphrey Gilbert, 

Gilbert. 1583. w ^ Q j n 

1583 tried to establish 
a colony in Newfound- 
land. This was the 
first English colony, 
but it failed because 
suitable colonists had 
not been secured. Two 
years later Raleigh 
founded a settlement 

Roanoke on Roanoke Island l off the coast of North Caro- 

Island. ij na or ^ as it was then called, Virginia. This prov- 

ing a failure, he made another attempt in 1587. But the 
times were unfavorable for such a venture. The danger from 
Spain was becoming real, and the authorities could not be in- 
duced to render assistance at a moment when all the resources 
of the kingdom might be needed to meet the enemy. The 
second colonizing expedition set sail for Virginia only about two 
months after the execution of Mary Stuart. The colony was 

1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 38. 




Sir Walter Raleigh 



JOHN DAVIS AND THE EAST INDIA COMPANY 299 

not reinforced as planned, doubtless because England was using 
all her energies in preparing to meet the expected 
Armada. Consequently the Roanoke colony was Raleigh's 
lost ; but the idea survived and twenty years later cognizing 
Englishmen succeeded in planting a permanent 
settlement at Jamestown. 

267. The Northwest Passage. There was another idea that 
haunted the English seamen in the Tudor period : John Cabot's 
belief that the northwest passage would shorten the route to 
the Orient lived through all the century. In Queen Elizabeth's 
day two famous navigators were sent in search of Frobisher and 
this -route : Sir Martin Frobisher and John Davis, Davis - 
whose name has been given to Davis Strait. Frobisher was in 
the Arctic 1 during the years when Drake made his wonderful 
journey around the globe ; Davis sailed on a similar mission 
ten years later. These expeditions brought no material gains, 
however, and the belief in a northwest passage was discredited. 

268. John Davis and the East India Company. More 
fortunate was John Davis in other waters. In the early years 
of the century, while Spain was building colonies in the West 
Indies and on the American mainland, the Portuguese were de- 
veloping an extensive and profitable trade in. the East Indies. 
Throughout the Tudor century, Lisbon was the The East 
great distributing center for Asiatic products. Indies - 
After 1580, however, the commercial importance of Lisbon be- 
gan to decline ; for in that year Philip II ascended the throne 
of Portugal, and merchants from rebellious Holland and heretic 
England were no longer welcome in Lisbon harbor. But with 
the destruction of the Armada the fear of the Spanish galleons 
was removed and seven years later the Dutch were establishing 
themselves in the East Indies as rivals of the Portuguese mer- 
chants. The Dutch, however, were too anxious for large profits 
and materially raised the prices of Oriental products : the price 
of pepper, for instance, was advanced from three to eight shil- 
lings per pound. 

1 Cheyney, No. 228. 



3°° 



THE AGE OF ELIZABETH 



These excessive prices led to a movement on the part of the 
merchants in London looking toward the formation of an Asi- 
atic trading company like the trading companies that were 
Th East operating in Russia, Turkey, and Morocco. 1 On 

India Com- the last day of the century the East India Com- 
pany. 1600. p an y was chartered and was given the monopoly 
of English commerce from the Cape of Good Hope eastward 
to Cape Horn. In the following spring a fleet of five ships 
sailed from London to India. Davis, who had accompanied a 
Dutch expedition to the same waters not long before, served as 
pilot. The venture proved highly successful, the merchants 
interested netting a profit of ninety-five per cent. But the ex- 
pedition of 1601 had other results that were even greater: it 
marked the beginning of the English empire in India. 

269. Theology and Philosophy: Hooker and Bacon. 
Glorious as are the maritime annals of the Elizabethan age, 
grander still are those of literature. For this was the time of 
H k r's Hooker and Bacon, of Spenser and Shakespeare. 
Ecclesiastical Hooker 2 was the theologian of the period : his 
Polity. Ecclesiastical Polity was written in defense of An- 
glicanism against the attack of a reforming party in the church, 
the Puritans. Another great writer of English prose was 

Francis Bacon, the son of the lord chancellor to 
whose office he was later elevated. Bacon was 
the first great English philosopher. His achievement was to 
develop a new method of thought and reasoning, the inductive, 
by which a conclusion is reached from the examination of a 
number of particular instances. The world has always reasoned 
inductively, but it was Francis Bacon who first reduced the 
process to scientific form and gave it a scientific basis. 

270. Elizabethan Poets: Spenser and Shakespeare. Ed- 
mund Spenser was known through most of Elizabeth's reign as 

a faithful government official in the Irish civil serv- 
ice. His employment was more honorable than 
profitable, it seems ; he was given a castle and three thousand 

1 Innes, Industrial Development, 150-151, 164-169. 2 Gardiner, 472-473. 



ELIZABETHAN POETS: SPENSER, SHAKESPEARE 301 



acres in the county of Cork ; but the estate appears to have 
had scenic attractions only. In these Irish solitudes, how- 
ever, he found time and 
inspiration for literary la- 
bors : for a poem addressed 
to the queen he was al- 
lowed a pension, which was 
not regularly paid, how- 
ever, as Burleigh's practi- 
cal soul objected to paying 
"all this for a song." He 
is best known for his Faery 
Queene, a poem The Faery 
in praise of Queene. 
Elizabeth, the first cantos 
of which were not pub- 
lished before the queen was 
nearly sixty years old and 
had lost all the physical 
attractions that she strug- 
gled so hard to conserve 1 . 
But this fact did not discourage Edmund Spenser ; he writes that 

" Fairer and nobler liveth none this hour, 
Ne like in grace, ne like in learned skill; 
Therefore they Glorian call that glorious flower; 
Long mayst thou, Glorian, live in glory and great power." 2 

But the greatest genius of the century was William Shake- 
speare, who developed the dramatic art to a higher point of 
excellence than literature had known before. 
Shakespeare was an indifferent actor from Strat- 
ford, whose connection with the stage was important in that it 
taught him his dramatic methods. The life that is reflected in 
Shakespeare's plays is that of the declining years of the queen's 
life. It may be doubted whether his writings could have 
reached their wonderful excellence if it had not been for the 

1 Robinson, No. 131. 2 Faery Queene, Book II, Canto X. 




Edmund Spenser 



Shakespeare. 



302 



THE AGE OF ELIZABETH 



inspiration of the age and its magnificent achievements. Like 
all other Englishmen Shakespeare had great reverence for Queen 
Elizabeth. A few years after her death he placed these pro- 




YARD 



Shakespeare's Globe Theatre 

phetic words on the tongue of Cranmer who assisted at her 

baptism : 

"All princely graces 
That mould up such a mighty piece as this is, 
With all the virtues that attend the good 
Shall still be doubled on her: truth shall nurse her, 
Holy and heavenly thoughts still counsel her. 



In her days, every man shall eat in safety 
Under his own vine what he plants, and sing 



THE LAST YEARS OF ELIZABETH 303 

The merry song of peace to all his neighbors: 
God shall be truly known, and those about her 
From her shall read the perfect ways of honor." l 

As Elizabeth was no longer living, this cannot be regarded as 
mere flattery : it was the poet's way of saying that wisdom had 
ruled in the government, that Protestantism had triumphed, 
and that the reign had been one of prosperity and peace. No 
doubt it was easy to idealize the queen in the days of James I, 
who had no "princely graces" and whose thoughts were not 
"holy and heavenly." The praise of King James that contin- 
ues the prophetic strain may be regarded as mere flattery that 
the poet addressed from motives of expediency. 

271. The Last Years of Elizabeth. The last ten years of 
the sixteenth century saw, perhaps, more strong and brilliant 
men in England than any earlier period had be- Giants of the 
held. Hawkins, Howard, Drake, and Grenville Elizabethan 
were still striking terror into the hearts of Spain ; age * 
Frobisher and Davis were still sailing waters known and un- 
known ; Raleigh was active in many lines, as poet, conqueror, 
and courtier ; Spenser was publishing his masterpiece ; Hooker 
and Bacon were investigating profound problems in politics 
and science ; Shakespeare was writing his immortal plays. 

The same decade also saw the greater number of these giants 
play their final part on the Elizabethan stage. In 1591, Sir 
Richard Grenville with his little ship, the Revenge, fought 
fifty-three Spanish ships near the Azores and was finally taken 
after a night and a day. 2 Four years later old John Hawkins 
and Francis Drake led their last attack on the The last f 
Spanish Main. Hawkins died the same year at the great 
Puerto Rico, and Drake eleven weeks later near the 
Isthmus of Panama. 3 Frobisher fell in Brittany in 1594. 
Lord Burleigh died in 1598. Others were withdrawing from 

1 Henry VIII, Act V, sc. 5; see also Midsummer-nights Dream, Act II, sc. 1, 
where Oberon refers to Elizabeth as " a fair vestal, throned by the west." 
' l Bates and Coman, 295-302 (Tennyson, The Revenge). 
3 Ibid., 293-294 (Newbolt, Drake's Drum). 



3°4 



THE AGE OF ELIZABETH 



active life and service. Old age and loneliness stole upon the 
masterful queen, and it is not strange that flatterers and favo- 
rites should find important places at the royal court. The'r 




The Shakespeare Memorial, Stratford 

influence was not of the best. The last few years of Elizabeth's 
reign heard a great deal of complaint : Englishmen were much 
displeased with the queen's government. The problems that 



THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND 305 

gave most concern were the creation of monopolies in trade 
and manufacture ; the unsettled state of Ireland ; Domestic 
the question of the succession ; and the unsatis- problems and 
factory situation of the church. discontent. 

272. The Monopolies. 1 It had long been the custom of 
kings to grant exclusive rights to manufacture and sell certain 
necessities. For such rights annual payments were made to 
the crown, and the government consequently could The right of 
see little wrong in the practice. But as the mo- mon °Poiy. 
nopolies covered such articles as glass, soap, starch, and salt, 
there was naturally much complaint of extortionate prices. 
For twenty-five years the agitation against such favors was 
kept up; but it was not until 1601 that any step was taken to 
cancel any of these grants. 2 Only partial relief was given, 
however, and the problem remained. 

273. The Problem of Ireland. The Plantation of Ulster. 3 
The Irish problem may be said to have originated when Henry 
VIII elevated Ireland to the dignity of a kingdom and placed 
the crown on his own head. The English kings, Attempts to 
whose authority had earlier been practically limited colonize 

to the Pale, were ambitious to control the whole rean ' 
island ; and to secure a firmer hold upon the country the queen's 
government planned to colonize the disaffected parts of the 
island with Englishmen. It was easy enough to find men like 
Raleigh who would gladly become Irish landlords ; but real 
colonists were not forthcoming before the seventeenth century. 
The attempts of the English kings to plant settlements and to 
organize the island into shires irritated the Irish chiefs and 
several uprisings resulted which were led by the Irish 
Fitzgeralds, a Norman-Irish family that controlled rebelll o n s. 
large parts of southern Ireland, and the O'Neills, a native Irish 
family whose power lay in the extreme north. All these up- 
risings failed ; but they were a source of continued expense to 

1 Gardiner, 478; Innes, Industrial Development, 152-154. 

2 Cheyney, No. 243. 

3 Innes, Industrial Development, 151-152. 



306 THE AGE OF ELIZABETH 

the English government and brought on strained relations with 
parliament ; for the commons were sure to bring up the griev- 
ance of the monopolies whenever the queen asked for additional 
funds to be used against the rebellious Fitzgeralds, O'Neills, 
and O'Donnells. 

The Irish troubles culminated in the plantation of Ulster 
early in the next reign. As the rising of O'Neill in 1595 was not 
general, it scarcely could hope for success and was put down 
after several years of righting in the year of the queen's death 
(1603). In 1607 the defeated chiefs appear to have planned 
another uprising, but they found little response among the 
Plantation natives and fled the land. On the theory that the 
of Ulster. lands of the Irish tribe belonged to the chief, King 

James, who had succeeded Elizabeth, declared large areas of 
the land in Ulster forfeited to the crown, and proceeded to 
colonize the region with Protestants from England and Scot- 
land. Most of the new settlers were Scotch Presbyterians who 
made excellent colonists. The four northeastern counties of 
Ireland are still the most progressive and prosperous section of 
the island, and Belfast is its chief port. The natives were not 
driven out of Ulster, but the colonists became the dominant 
class. Unfortunately a strong feeling of hostility grew up be- 
tween the Ulster Presbyterians and the Irish elsewhere on the 
island, and this feeling shows no signs of abatement. The 
plantation of Ulster had a precedent in Elizabeth's project for 
the colonization of southern Ireland twenty years earlier at the 
time when Raleigh and Spenser received their Irish estates. 
The Ulster settlement came to be of great importance, as it 
has always remained loyal to the English king. 

274. Virginia. Another line of Tudor policy was carried out 
in the same year by the settlement of Virginia at Jamestown. 
For this, King James deserves little honor, as he did not believe 
in such colonization. The venture was a direct result of the 
The Virginia commercial operations in Russia, the Levant, and 
Company. ^e i nc ii es : the Virginia Company was one of a 

series of trading companies of which the East India Company 



THE SUCCESSION 307 

was the most prominent. The company was an association of 
merchants in London and Plymouth ; but the leading spirits 
were Gosnold the navigator, who had visited the American 
shores earlier, Edward Wingfield, a London merchant, Sir John 
Popham, an eminent English judge, Ferdinando Gorges, a 
naval officer, and the adventurer John Smith. The company 
was chartered in 1606, and on the following New Year's Day 
three ships carrying 105 men sailed out into the Jamestown. 
Atlantic to plant the British Empire in America, 1 1607 - 
as it had been planted six years before in India. 

275. The Succession. As the years passed, England be- 
came more and more solicitous about the succession : the queen 
was approaching the edge of the grave ; but no one knew who 
was to succeed her. The Tudor dynasty was not without 
its representatives ; but none of them possessed The problem 
the dignity of station necessary to a candidate of the 
for the throne. Elizabeth's nearest relative in succession - 
England was Lord Beauchamp, a nephew of Lady Jane Grey; 
and the queen probably had him in mind when she said that 
no rascal should sit on her throne. Whether she ever really 
designated James Stuart, "our cousin, of Scotland," 2 as her 
successor is not known and is not important, as no will without 
parliamentary sanction could dispose of the crown. James, 
however, was the queen's nearest male kinsman, and, though 
ineligible so long as Henry's will was still law, he had a strong 
following among the English magnates, who hoped that his 
accession would secure the peaceful union of the two crowns 
and perpetual peace in Great Britain. There was much in- 
triguing in favor of the Stuarts during the last years of Eliza- 
beth's life, and it is said that many prominent Englishmen 
had accepted Stuart gold. In March, 1603, the Accession of 
day after the great queen's death, the privy coun- J ames *■ 
cil proclaimed James I the king of England ; the people of Eng- 
land gladly acquiesced ; and a few weeks later the Scotch king 
mounted the throne without opposition. 

1 Cheyney, No. 264. 2 Gardiner, 480. 



308 THE AGE OF ELIZABETH 

276. Achievements of the Tudor Dynasty. For a little 
more than a century the Tudors had ruled in England and 
during this period they had achieved much that has endured. 
The Anglican In the sixteenth century England came to hold 
church. an entirely new position in Europe. Papal control 

and influence were a thing of the past ; and the English church 
had been rebuilt on a Protestant basis. English commerce 
had reached out to the new continents and an English ship had 
girdled the earth. Spain, whose immense power had over- 
shadowed Europe, was crushed when the Armada was defeated, 
and England was left without a serious rival on the sea. All 
ambition to rule Continental territory was surrendered ; but the 
Imperial English flag had been planted in Virginia and in 

ambitions. India — the British Empire was born in the reign 
of Queen Elizabeth. To the Stuart dynasty the Tudors passed 
on their policies and ambitions : plans for further commercial 
development ; plans for the union of the Scotch and English 
crowns ; plans for colonial expansion. These were in great 
measure realized during the earlier years of the new reign. 
But the Stuarts also inherited the strife that had arisen between 
Elizabeth and parliament and the problem of composing the 
difficulties that had arisen within the English church. 1 

REFERENCES 

The Elizabethan seamen. — Cross, History of England, 391-393, 410-413; 
Fletcher, Introductory History of England, I, ii, 174-179; Innes, History of 
England, 332-336; Ober, Raleigh, c. i; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 
466-467, 473-475; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 392-397. 

Literature of the Elizabethan age. — Creighton, 208-226; Cross, 
417-425; Innes, 378-382; Tout, 415-418. 

The Ulster Plantation. — Lawless, Ireland, 222-225. 

England in the sixteenth century. — Cheyney, Short History of England, 
367-381; Cross, cc. xxi, xxvi; Fletcher, I, ii, 190-205; Innes, 363-382; 
Walker, Essentials in English History, c. xx; Wrong, History of the British 
Nation, c xiii. 

1 Masterman, 96-102. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE RISE OF THE PURITAN PARTY 

277. The Opponents of Anglicanism. The Anglican church 
had received its sanction from parliament. Its government 
rested on statutory acts ; its worship was ordained by the legis- 
lature ; even its creed was authorized by law. These various 
acts were to a large extent dictated by a spirit of Early dissatis- 
compromise and consequently the establishment faction with 
did not satisfy all classes ; still, so long as the con- ng lcamsm - 
nict with Rome was on, the quarrel over details was kept down. 
But with the final victory for Protestantism in the early years 
of Elizabeth's reign, the internal strife broke out in earnest. 
The dissatisfaction at first was chiefly with the ceremonies and 
worship of the church, which many felt were too nearly like 
those of Romanism. This feeling had existed in England since 
the beginning of the Protestant movement : John Hooper, who 
is sometimes called the first Puritan, refused to wear the scarlet 
robes of the episcopal office which the church required in the 
days of Edward VI ; he was also unwilling to take the episcopal 
oath; he was "argued with learnedly, kindly, patiently, and 
when this did not answer was thrown into the The Mar i an 
Fleet." The Marian exiles, who on the Continent exiles; 
had come into contact with the bald and simple 
worship of Calvinism, did much to spread and intensify this 
opposition to elaborate robes and ceremonies. In the matter 
of doctrine there was but little disagreement : the English Prot- 
estants were inclined to accept on disputed points the theology 
of John Calvin rather than that of the German reformers. 
Soon, however, a strong opposition also arose to the Anglican 
form of church government, which in time developed an intense 
bitterness. 

309 



3io 



THE RISE OF THE PURITAN PARTY 



278. Puritanism. The men who began to mutter opposition 
to the established order soon came to be known as Puritans, 
men who wished to purify the ceremonial of the church. The 
term Puritan is very inclusive, and is often used as a general 
term for all the various Protestant tendencies that were working 




The Fleet Prison 

The Fleet was a prison of evil repute, used as a place of confinement 
for debtors, offenders against religion, victims of the Star Chamber, and 
other unfortunates. It was established in the twelfth century and abolished 
in 1843. 



in united opposition to the established church. Any positive 
The Puritan platform or series of Puritan principles is difficult 
type of mind. to fi nc j_ or formulate : but there did exist a Puritan 
type of mind and a Puritan view of life that gave distinct color 
to the movement. 

The characteristics of Puritanism were chiefly derived from 
a close and continued study of the Scriptures. In those days 
there were no newspapers or magazines ; literature was not 
generally accessible ; but the love for reading was strong ; and 



PRESBYTERIANISM : THOMAS CARTWRIGHT 311 

this love the Bible helped to satisfy. The sacred book proved 
to be a comfort and a revelation to the serious- Characteristics 
minded reader and the result was a profound of Puritanism, 
modification of character in a direction that is, perhaps, best 
typified in the character of John Milton. The mind that was 
filled with the historic lore of the Old Testament, the sublime 
poetry of the Psalms, the eloquent passion of the Prophets, 
and the clear-cut principles of the Mosaic law could not fail to 
display its spiritual possessions ; and so we have the Puritan 
Christian, strong in prayer, strict in conduct, quick to discern 
evil or the appearance of evil in others, eager to testify to the 
faith that was in him, and sure of his own position. 

The great strength of Puritanism was its emphasis on the 
right of every conscience to determine what is truth ; but this 
was also its fundamental weakness ; for all consciences have not 
the same light. It was inevitable, therefore, that Disagreement 
factions should soon rise within the Puritan fold : among 
on the need of the simplification of the Prayer untans - 
Book there was general agreement ; but on the subject of church 
government there were notable differences. It seemed evident 
to many that the episcopal system, under which each bishopric 
is a little monarchy, was evil. The restless agitators came into 
early conflict with the statutes that governed the Opposition to 
life of the church, 1 especially with the Act of Uni- the episcopacy, 
formity. Naturally they looked on the enforcement of these 
laws as wicked persecution. As it was the peculiar duty of the 
bishops to enforce the regulations of the church, such perse- 
cution could usually be traced to their activities. Consequently, 
the dislike for episcopacy grew into a conviction that the bishop's 
office must be of evil origin. 

279. Presbyterianism : Thomas Cartwright. The earliest 
distinct anti-episcopal party originated in the teachings of 
Thomas Cartwright, a professor at Cambridge, Thomas 
which was still the center of radicalism in Eng- Car twright. 
land. Cartwright began to urge reforms in church government 

1 Review sec. 249. 



3 i2 THE RISE OF THE PURITAN PARTY 

shortly before 1570. His plan was to remodel the Anglican 
church on a republican basis, and create an organization some- 
what similar to the system that was being developed in Scotland 
chiefly through the efforts of Cartwright's learned and cour- 
Andrew ageous contemporary, the Scotchman Andrew 

Melville. Melville. Melville's plan has been called " Pres- 

byterian" from its emphasis on the local ministry, the elders 
or presbyters, who are chosen by the congregation to govern 
the local church, and of whom the pastor, or preaching elder, 
is always one. The local churches are grouped into presby- 
teries which are administered by a meeting of elders sitting as 
Presbyteri- delegates from the various congregations. These 
anism. presbyteries again send delegates to a larger body, 

the synod, and to the general assembly, which is a church par- 
liament for the entire nation. In the Presbyterian system 
there is no logical place for a bishop. It will be observed that 
authority originates in election by the communicant member- 
ship, and not, as in the Anglican system, in appointment by 
the central government. In 1572 and the following 
years efforts were made to establish presbyteries 
in England but without success. 

280. Separatism: Robert Browne. 1 Ten years after Cart- 
wright had begun his agitation, the bishops were once more 
disturbed by a demand for a change in the constitution of the 
Robert church. One Robert Browne, an Anglican priest, 

Browne. began to preach that the state church was un- 

biblical, that, in fact, all forms of church government except 
that of the local church were unauthorized by Scripture : every 
local body of believers by right formed a self-governing unit in 
church matters, independent of all outside authorities. Browne 
was therefore in opposition to the Presbyterian idea as well as 
to the episcopal system. His theory was known as Separatism 
Early Congre- and bears close resemblance to the system called 
gationahsm. Independency or Congregationalism, which arose in 
England a generation later and was widely adopted among the 

1 Gardiner, 470-472. 



COURT OF HIGH COMMISSION 



3 X 3 



reformed churches in the American colonies. Early Congre- 
gationalism, however, did not contemplate absolute separation 
from the established church, but was forced by circumstances 
to take this position later. 

Robert Browne organized a separatist congregation in 1579, 
the year before the Jesuits first appeared in England. If his 
doctrine had prevailed, all formal union among the 
Protestants would have disappeared, for under 
Brownism no general organization could exist. Cartwright's 
plan would have maintained the unity of the church ; but its 
adoption would have driven thousands who venerated the 
ancient episcopal institution into the Romanist fold. The 
government, therefore, found it necessary to emphasize the 
connections of Anglicanism with the historic past ; and it was 
determined to allow no deviation from the legal Recusancy 
standards. The "recusancy laws," which were laws - 
aimed chiefly at the Romanists, came to be used against all who 
tried to subvert the existing order, Protestants as well as Cath- 
olics. Brownism seems not to have been very influential ; the 
originator himself finally renounced his theory and was recon- 
ciled to the established church. 

281. Low Church Anglicans. A third faction, which may 
be called the low church Anglicans, wished to retain the historic 
constitution, bishops and all ; but would reduce the Low 
power of the church authorities and give more chur chmen. 
freedom to the individual conscience ; without asking that the 
Prayer Book be abolished, they demanded the right to make 
changes or omissions in the ceremonial. It was this party 
that was rightly called Puritan. Later events, however, espe- 
cially the vigorous enforcement of the recusancy laws, drove 
many of these moderates into the more pronounced Presbyterian 
or separatist camp. 

282. Court of High Commission. Thus during the dan- 
gerous decade of 15 79-1 589, the decade of the Jesuits, the 
Babington plot, the Armada, and Brownism, the Anglican 
church was attacked from two sides, by Romanist and Puritan. 



314 THE RISE OF THE PURITAN PARTY 

In the struggle with these enemies, the authorities made ex- 
tensive use of a new ecclesiastical tribunal, the 

Commission. Court of High Commission. This was an English 
form of the Inquisition which was authorized by 

1583 

the Act of Supremacy, but was not fully organized 
before 1583. The chief members of this court were the arch- 
bishop of Canterbury and the bishop of London. Its chief 
function was to purge the church of dissenting clergymen, and 
An English to punish such as in any way failed to carry out 
inquisition. j- ne ecclesiastical regulations. It was an energetic 
body and doubtless did much to check the spread of Puritan 
views. 

283. Hooker's " Ecclesiastical Polity." Perhaps even more 
effective was a famous work on the constitution of the Anglican 
church that was published at intervals from 1594 to 1604. 
"Ecclesiastical This was the Ecclesiastical Polity by the great in- 
Polity." tellectual opponent of Puritanism, Richard Hooker. 
Hooker was an English priest of great piety and learning. The 
author held that the episcopal system had proved its excellence 
by efficient working in England for one thousand years ; that 
the proposed Presbyterian system could not be shown to have 
originated with Christ, as its supporters claimed ; and that, 
consequently, the English church was under no compulsion to 
change its constitution. 

Nevertheless, the reforming party was constantly gaining in 
strength. To Elizabeth's great disgust, Puritan members of 
Puritans in parliament persisted in bringing up the subject 
parliament. Q f cnurcn reform ; but the queen and the bishops 
manfully resisted all attempts at changes and nothing was 
accomplished. 

284. James I and the Theory of Divine Right. 1 In 
1603, a few weeks after the death of Queen Elizabeth, 
James VI of Scotland came to England and was crowned as 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 249-250 (Speeches by James I); Masterman, 105-107; Rob- 
inson No. 156; Tuell and Hatch, No. 41 (extract from King James' book on 
" Monarchic "). 



JAMES I AND THE THEORY OF DIVINE RIGHT 315 

James I. 1 Though the son of the Catholic Mary, James had 
been brought up a Presbyterian ; but he disliked " Divine 
the republicanism of the Scotch church, as it was Ri s ht -" 

not suited to his theories 
of monarchy. During 
the middle ages much 
had been heard of the 
church as a divine insti- 
tution. A few bold 
thinkers had held that 
kings and emperors also 
ruled by virtue of 
appointment by the 
Almighty ; and in the 
sixteenth century this be- 
lief in the divine character 
of the state came to be 
widely accepted. Martin 
Luther's revolt from 
Rome and his denial of 
papal SU- Origin of the 
p r e m a c y theor y- 
naturally drove him to 
place greater emphasis 
on the divine right of the secular princes. This doctrine was 




James I 
After a painting by E. Lutterell. 



Genealogy of the Stuart dynasty in England. 



James I, 
1603-1625 



Charles I, 
1625-1640 



Elizabeth = Frederick, 
elector 
Palatine 



Charles II, Mary = William II (i) Anne Hyde =James II = (2) Mary of Modena 
1660-1685 I of Orange 1685-1688 



William III, 
1689-1702 



Mary, 
1 689- 1 694 



Charles, 
the Young Pretender 



Anne, 
[702-1714 

James, 
the Old Pretender 

Henry, 
Cardinal of 
York 



Sophia = Elector of 
I Hanover 

George I 



316 THE RISE OF THE PURITAN PARTY 

eagerly accepted .by James who developed it into a theory of 
divine hereditary right : not only had the Almighty ordained 
government, but he had placed it in the hands of a definite 
family in each state. Thus the king at the same time exalted 
monarchy and established his own right to the English crown. 
For a king ruling by divine right, a government of the church 
by bishops of his own selection would naturally seem an ideal 
system. 

285. William Laud and the Divine Right of Episcopacy. 
In the same years there appeared a related doctrine in England : 
William the divine right of the episcopal system. The 
Laud. y ear after the accession of James, William Laud, 
a young Oxford theologian, maintained in an academic dispu- 
tation the principle that without bishops there could be no 
No bishops, true church. Laud's position was wholly different 

l * from that of Hooker ; but gradually it came to be 
fe accepted view in high church circles. 

286. King James and the Puritans. The church problem 
was the very first to present itself to the new king. Naturally 
the Puritans hoped much from a ruler who had been trained in 
Presbyterianism ; and even before King James had reached his 
new capital, a petition was presented to him which bore' the 
The "Milie- signatures of several hundred disaffected Anglican 
nary Petition." p r j es ts ( a thousand signatures had been hoped for) 
asking permission to omit certain parts of the Prayer Book 
service : especially did the petitioners object to the use of the 
sign of the cross in Baptism, to questions addressed to infants, 
to confirmation, to clerical robes, to bowing at the mention of 
the name of Jesus, and the like. 1 The king, who was rejoicing 
in the vernal glories of his English kingdom, made a show of 
benign liberality ; and early the next year he called a conference 
The Hampton between the Puritan and high church parties at 
Court Hampton Court over which he presided. No result 

came, as the purpose of each faction was merely 
to overcome the other in debate. When from a chance remark 

1 Cheyney, No. 248. 



KING JAMES AND THE PURITANS 317 

the king discovered that the Puritan reformers leaned toward 
a Presbyterian organization, he lost his royal patience and in a 
rambling speech informed the conference that "a presbytery 
as well agreeth with a monarchy as God and the Devil.'-' When 
the Puritans had nothing to reply to the king's speech, he ad- 
journed the session and definitely placed himself on the high 
church side : "If this be all that they have to say, I shall make 
them conform themselves, or I will harry them out of the land, 
or else do worse." l Three hundred priests refused to submit 




The Brewster House, Scrooby 

The house of William Brewster was the first house of worship of the 
Scrooby church (organized in 1606), the members of which fled to Holland 
in 1608, and finally emigrated to New England in 1620, where they founded 
the Plymouth Colony. 

to the royal will and lost their offices. In 1604, therefore, the 
issue was definitely drawn between the contending parties both 
as to church government and as to ritual. An effort was also 
made to hunt out separatist congregations, and some of these 
found it expedient to seek refuge in Holland. Of these the most 
famous is the congregation at Scrooby in Notting- The Scrooby 
hamshire, which stole out of England in 1608, and congregation, 
a dozen years later emigrated to New England, where they 
founded the colony of Plymouth. 

1 Cheyney, No. 253; Kendall, No. 69. 




THE RISE OF THE PURITAN PARTY 

287. The "Authorized Version" of the Bible. 1 The one 

important result of the Hampton Court Conference was the 
appointment of a commission to revise the text of the English 
Bible. There were several versions current at the time. 
Though William Tyndale had translated the greater part of 
the sacred book, he had been unable to complete the under- 
Earlier taking. In a part of his work he had been assisted 
versions of by Miles Coverdale, who brought out a complete 
translation of his own just before Tyndale's death. 
Coverdale also assisted in the preparation of the " Great Bible" 
which Cranmer ordered to be placed in the churches and which 
was chiefly Tyndale's version revised and completed. During 
Mary's reign, the English exiles at Geneva made another transla- 
tion in which Coverdale also had a part. The English Catholics 
who gathered about William Allen on the Continent also took up 
the task of preparing a version : this is known as the Douai Bible, 
and is still the standard among English-speaking Catholics. 

In the violent religious debates of Elizabeth's time, all parties 
appealed to the Scriptures and many a good soul was perplexed 
to find that the divine word had not been understood in the 
King James' same way by all the translators. Consequently, 
version. 1611. there was little opposition when a Puritan scholar 
proposed that the translations should be given a careful revision. 
A body of forty-seven scholars was appointed to undertake the 
work. These worked in six groups, each translating a certain 
part of the Bible. Afterwards the work was gone over by the 
whole commission. After several years of work, the translators 
had their version ready for the public in 1611. It proved to 
be very largely a revision of Tyndale's translation. The work 
was never " authorized," but its merits were so evident that it 
soon displaced all other versions among the Protestants. 

288. King James and Parliament. 2 James I was a man of 
no striking abilities as a statesman, but he possessed considerable 
learning and had great faith in himself. 3 His strong belief in 

1 Review sees. 206, 222. 2 Masterman, 11 2-1 17. 

3 Cheyney, No. 244 (Due de. Sully); Tuell and Hatch, No. 40 (Green). 



KING JAMES AND PARLIAMENT 319 

" divine right" implied absolutistic ideas ; and though he lacked 
the courage to take any positive steps in the di- y amesI . 
rection of absolute monarchy, the spirit was pres- his ideas of 
ent in his reign from the very beginning. The government, 
dissenting church party ranged itself in opposition to his policies 




Old London Bridge 

quite early in the reign ; soon another faction joined this oppo- 
sition on political grounds. In time these two factions coalesced 
into a single political party which in a vague way came to stand 
for reforms in the established church and limitation of the 
royal authority. 

King James did not expect to govern without the assistance of 
parliament ; but in the Stuart system the legislature was to 
play a decidedly secondary part. Parliament His att j tu( j e 
could be made useful to carry out the king's will : toward 
it was to legislate and levy taxes according to the 
king's directions. Such had practically been its functions under 
the early Tudors ; but the frequent, almost yearly sessions of 
the people's representatives between 1529, when the Reforma- 
tion Parliament first met, and 1559, when Protestantism 
was made a permanent fact, had developed a sense of im- 
portance, independence, and pugnacity in the house of com- 
mons that made it difficult for the king to carry out any 
arbitrary purposes. The king's insistence upon his "divine 
right" irritated the commons; 1 but still more serious was his 

1 Cheyney, No. 252; Kendall, No. 70. 



3 20 THE RISE OF THE PURITAN PARTY 

interference with the cherished right of parliament to levy or 
refuse taxes. 

289. Tunnage and Poundage. " Impositions." For nearly 
three centuries it had been customary for parliament to allow 
the king the revenues from tunnage and poundage, the right to 
Tunnage and collect duty on certain specified classes of imported 
poundage. goods. 1 This made a very important part of the 
royal income, but the yield was insufficient for the improvident 
ruler ; and what with his expensive family, his Scotch favorites, 
and the chronic rebelliousness of Ireland, his resources soon 
dwindled. After three years of English rule, his treasury was 
empty. There were two ways of increasing the revenues from 
"impositions" tunnage and poundage, by raising the rate of the 
of James I. £ ax or by levying (imposing) the tax on new prod- 
ucts. King James adopted the latter expedient : he imposed a 
duty on currants, which netted a handsome sum. 2 A mer- 
chant of the Levant Company questioned the right of the 

government to levy such a tax without the per- 
mission of parliament. However, the court of the 
exchequer, which had jurisdiction over matters relating to 
the revenue, upheld the king's contention. The king construed 
the decision as giving him complete control of the customs 
duties, and proceeded to readjust the schedule of rates according 
to his own needs. The result was to intensify the quarrel with 
parliament, whose dearest right had been violated. 

290. George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. The matter 
of the "impositions" was of chief interest to the commons; but 
King James also managed to incur the active hostility of the 
lords. The English peers have an ancient right to act as the 
king's advisers, and in the seventeenth century this privilege 
Royal was still taken seriously. But to their disgust and 
favorites. indignation the great nobles discovered that the 
royal ear was in the keeping of men of low birth. Royal favor- 
ites have existed in almost every reign ; James' mistake was in 
allowing them too much influence in the government. Of 

i Review sec. 144; Innes, II, 4-6. 2 Gardiner, 484. 



KING JAMES AND THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 321 

these favorites the most important was George Villiers, a 
young squire from Leicestershire, who became George 
prominent in 16 16 when he was admitted to knight- Villiers - 
hood. The next year he sat in the house of lords, though only 
twenty-four years old ; and a year later he was created marquis 
of Buckingham. Other offices and honors were showered upon 
him, and the young upstart apparently controlled the policies 
of James and his son Charles till his death by assassination in 
1628. Buckingham possessed abilities, but he was rash, head- 
strong, and excessively vain. His swift elevation was keenly 
felt and resented by all the peerage. 

291. King James and the Thirty Years' War. The year 
when James I threw away the support of the aristocracy by 
making his favorite a marquis saw the beginning of a tremendous 
conflict on the Continent in which the Stuarts had a personal 
interest and the course of which exerted great influence on the 
career of the dynasty. In 16 18 the Bohemian nobility deposed 
King Ferdinand and called Frederick, the elector of the Palati- 
nate, to the vacant throne. The elector was the „ 

• 1 t T A C ^ i. Kmg J alUeS 

son-in-law or James and an ancestor of the present interest in 
king of England. James was placed in an awkward *J* e T ^f£^ 
position : the English nation sympathized with 
Frederick, as he was the head of a Protestant German Union 
that was organized in anticipation of war with the Catholic 
states in the Empire. But for several reasons the English king 
could not think of going to war in behalf of his rash son-in-law : 
his timid soul shrank from conflicts of every sort ; his great 
faith in his own shrewdness had led him to believe that he 
could accomplish the same results by diplomatic efforts; his 
finances were in their usual disordered condition ; moreover, 
his son-in-law had surely sinned by accepting a throne that 
Ferdinand held by divine right ; but not the least Embarrass- 
difficulty was the king's ambition to marry his son ment of the 
Charles to a kinswoman of this same injured King ng 1S ing * 
Ferdinand, a princess of the Hapsburg family in Spain. 

When parliament met three years later (15 21) Frederick 



322 THE RISE OF THE PURITAN PARTY 

was in sore straits, and the representatives of the English nation 
were ready to vote funds for a war against the enemies of Ger- 
man Protestantism ; but King James preferred to continue 
his futile negotiations. In this parliament the quarrel between 
Quarrel with the king and the commons reached its culmination, 
parliament. The ma tter of monopolies x had again become a 
crying evil and so violent were the protests in parliament against 
the royal practice of getting additional funds by forbidding 
competition with certain firms that dealt in soap, gold thread, 
and other important articles of commerce, that the king found 
it wise to recall some of the grants. 2 It was believed that the 
lord chancellor, the noted philosopher Francis Bacon, had 
Impeachment f avore d the cause of monopoly and had profited 
of Lord Chan- thereby ; the commons accordingly impeached 
him for bribery. Though Bacon had been an 
upright judge, he was technically guilty of accepting gifts. He 
was dismissed from his office and for a time deprived of his 
freedom. The remaining five years of his life he gave to the 
advancement of science. 3 

292. The Plans for a Spanish Marriage. The commons also 
looked with disfavor on the projected matrimonial alliance with 
Spain. 4 A petition was sent to the king asking him to find a 
Protestant bride for the future king. The king was irritated 
and lectured the house for presuming to discuss matters that 
"The Great had not been referred to its membership, where- 
Protestation." U p 0n the house drew up the " Great Protestation" 
in which it asserted the right of parliament to discuss any mat- 
ter that concerned the state. James sent for the journal of the 
house and tore out the sheet that contained the Protestation. 
Parliament was dismissed and some of its leaders sent to prison. 

Two years later (1623) Prince Charles and Buckingham 
Prince Charles made a journey to Madrid to woo a granddaughter 
in Madrid. f phiiip II. 5 The Spanish authorities had never 
seriously considered a marriage alliance with Protestant Eng- 

1 See sec. 272. 3 Cheyney, No. 259. 5 Cheyney, Nos. 255-257. 

2 Gardiner, 494-495. 4 Gardiner, 497-500. 



DEATH OF JAMES; ACCESSION OF CHARLES I 323 



land; and at this time, when the Hapsburgs were driving 
Protestantism to the wall in Germany, such a union Failure of 
could only give the greatest offense to the bigoted the marriage 
churchmen of Spain. Charles soon discovered that p ans ' 
he was being played with ; so he and Buckingham hastened back 
to England and 
urged the king to 
make war on Spain. 
Parliament met again 
the following year 
and shared the 
eagerness of the 
prince and Bucking- 
ham for the attack 
on Spain ; but it also 
showed its distrust 
of the king by mak- 
ing money grants for 
specific purposes 
only and by attack- 
ing the lord treas- 
urer. 

293. The Death 
of James; the Ac- 
cession of Charles 
I. The war with 
Spain did not mate- 
rialize ; instead an 
effort was made to 
succor the elector 
Frederick. The Protestant forces were now gathering under 
the leadership of King James' brother-in-law, King 
Christian IV of Denmark. Twelve thousand Eng- 
lishmen were gathered together and sent up the 
Rhine to fight for Frederick. The affair was badly 
managed ; the men started for Germany during 




Charles I 
From a portrait by Van Dyck. 



Disastrous 
expedition 
into Germany. 
1625. 

the winter 



324 THE RISE OF THE PURITAN PARTY 

months ; they were unprovided with money and supplies ; soon 
they were dying by hundreds of hunger and disease. While the 
expedition was perishing in Germany their incapable sovereign 
lay dying in England. 

The accession of Charles I did but little to change the situa- 
tion. The discontented parties still existed ; the old grievances 

were as annoying as ever ; Buckingham's influence 
Charles I. .„ , «• \ ■ , 

was still the controlling force in the government. 

But the new king, instead of being old, timid, and weak, was 

young, stubborn, and full of vigor. Energy was thrown into 

the government, but energy, unless it is wisely directed, may 

work much injury; and the result in England was that the 

breach between the king and his subjects widened. 

294. The French Marriage: Henrietta Maria. Soon after 
his accession, Charles I married a French princess, Henrietta 
Oueen Maria, the sister of Louis XIII. The alliance was 
Henrietta an unfortunate one : the English still hated the 
Maria. 1625. French and distrusted the Catholic church. As the 
new queen was only a girl of fifteen summers when she arrived in 
England, her influence on the course of English politics cannot 
have been great for some years ; but after a time she gained the 
king's confidence and sometimes determined his actions at 
critical moments ; at such times her advice was usually unwise. 
It is not strange that the queen should not understand the 
English constitution, or why the power of the Stuarts should be 
less complete than that of her kinsmen the Bourbons in France. 
Before the marriage King Charles pledged himself to secure 
toleration for the English Catholics. This promise cost him the 
favor of his first parliament, which voted little money and sul- 
lenly insisted on the enforcement of the anti-Catholic laws. 

295. Military Ventures. The king hoped to regain his 
popularity by a fortunate stroke of policy in foreign affairs, 
The expedition anc ^' a ^ ew mon ths after he had become king, he 
to .Cadiz. equipped a fleet for an attack on Spain. The expe- 
1625 ' dition sailed to Cadiz, but accomplished nothing : 
the great captains of Elizabeth's day were gone and none 



THE QUARREL WITH PARLIAMENT 325 

had risen to take their places. 1 Two years later (1627), King 
Charles found himself at war with his French brother-in-law. 
The fortunes of Protestantism were low in Germany ; Christian 
IV had been defeated and Gustavus Adolphus, the great king 
of Sweden, had not yet arrived. King Charles now determined 
to become the champion of Protestantism and to bring aid to 
the Huguenots in France. An expedition was prepared and 
sent to La Rochelle, the stronghold of Protestantism in France, 
under the command of the duke of Buckingham. Theattemptt0 
It landed on the island of Re, where the soldiers aidtheHugue- 
remained for several months with no result but 
disaster and dishonor to the English arms. Out of nearly 
7,000 men scarcely more than one-half returned to England. 2 

In less than four years three important military ventures 
had failed with great losses to England. The first had melted 
away in the Rhine country ; the second had suffered dishonor 
at Cadiz ; the third had been driven from Re. Three reasons 
may be assigned for these disasters: poor generalship, mis- 
management, and lack of funds. Count Mansfeld who led the 
expedition into Germany was a soldier of fortune and nothing 
more; Cecil who commanded the expedition to causes of the 

Spain was nicknamed " sit-still" by his men; English 
1 ~, , , r failures. 

Buckingham was a courtier. Charles first par- 
liament would not vote sufficient funds unless assurance was 
given that Buckingham was not to dispose of them. The 
second parliament found no time to vote any Trouble with 
funds whatever, as its time was occupied chiefly P arliament - 
with efforts to drive Buckingham from power by means of 
impeachment. To defeat this purpose Charles ended the 
session and sent the members home. 

296. The Quarrel with Parliament. Among the more 
prominent members of the parliamentary opposition to Charles 
I were several men of unusual force and abilities. Edward Coke 
Their chief was the great lawyer, Sir Edward Coke, 
who had long opposed all attempts to extend the royal 

1 Gardiner, 50.3. 2 Ibid., 506; Innes, II, 8-13. 



326 THE RISE OF THE PURITAN PARTY 

authority at the expense of personal freedom and the rights 

of parliament. As a consequence he was dismissed from his 

office as chief justice of the king's bench and at one time was 

given a term of a few months in the Tower. With 

Coke stood another famous lawyer, John Selden, 

who was also eminent as a theologian and was counted the 

most thorough scholar of the age. A third member of the 

group was Thomas Wentworth, better known as Lord Strafford, 

Thomas the chief supporter of the king in the next decade, 

Wentworth. b ut a leader of the opposition in the early stages 

of the trouble. Of a more strictly Puritan type was John 

Pym, whose career began with the Great Protestation and 

closed at the beginning of the civil war twenty years later. 

Oliver Cromwell was also an influential member of 
John Pym. ... .... 

parliament and active in opposition, but he cannot 

be counted among the leaders. Actual leadership belonged in 

these early years to an enthusiastic Puritan from southwestern 

England, Sir John Eliot, a kinsman of John Pym. 

Coke, Selden, and Wentworth opposed the king 
chiefly because they believed he was violating the English con- 
stitution ; while Pym, Cromwell, and Eliot also fought against 
the innovations that the king's party, under the leadership of 
William Laud, was trying to introduce into the church. 

297. The Use of Illegal Financial Methods. After the 
failure of the second parliament to provide the funds, the king 
Forced and his privy council began to use illegal methods 

loans - to provide an increased revenue : the funds for 

Buckingham's expedition to Re were raised by forced loans : 
wealthy men were asked to lend money to the king, and if any 
one showed a disposition to refuse, compulsion was used. Five 
The five knights, who had resisted the exaction, appealed 

knights' case. to t h e cour t f king's bench : their claim was that 
they were being held in prison without legal warrant ; and that 
they were entitled to be tried without delay, or to be released 
on bail. The king's attorneys argued that the king had certain " 
large discretionary powers with which the courts could not 



THE PETITION OF RIGHT. 1628 



3 2 7 



interfere, and that this was a case in point. The judges sent 
the knights back to prison, thereby apparently sustaining the 
king's contention. 

The king had also begun the practice of billeting his soldiers, 
that is, forcing the citizens of any particular locality to house 
and feed his troops without pay. The presence of 
soldiers under such circumstances was not relished. 
Trouble frequently arose between the soldiers and their citizen 
hosts; but as these were usually settled by courts martial, 
justice was not always done according to the ideas of the citizens. 




-SrwilrH 



Westminster in the Seventeenth Century 

298. The Petition of Right. 1628. 1 It was while the 
English mind was deeply stirred by forced loans, by troubles 
with uninvited military guests, and by news of repeated disas- 
ters abroad, that writs went forth for the election of Charles' 
third parliament. The voters returned a set of members who 
were determined to bring the Stuart king to terms. Sir John 
Eliot, who had led the fight against Buckingham in the previ- 
ous parliament, again took charge of the forces that were hos- 
tile to the measures of Charles and his mighty favorite. He 
was ably assisted by Wentworth and Coke. It was in this 
fight that the learned but aged lawyer called attention to the 
promises of the Great Charter, a document that English law- 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 272-275; Gardiner, 508-509; Robinson, No. 157; Tuell and Hatch, 
No. 44. 



328 THE RISE OF THE PURITAN PARTY 

yers and statesmen had well nigh forgotten. 1 In the Charter 
Magna Carta Coke thought he found the practice of the Stuarts 
revived. expressly forbidden. The Great Charter guaran- 

tees every freeman a trial by his "peers" and Coke interpreted 
this to mean that no Englishman could be deprived of his right 
to be tried by a jury. He overlooked the fact, however, that 
the term "freemen" of King John's time did not refer to the 
masses, who were villeins, not freemen. 

The chief result of the first session of this parliament was an 
important constitutional document, the Petition of Right, 2 of 
Petition of which Coke seems to have been the chief author. 
Right: the In this the king was made to confess that wrong 
our pom s. ^^ been done and to promise amendment. The 
Petition covers four points, each relating to a recent and 
specific grievance, (i) Forced loans and benevolences were 
declared illegal; (2) billeting was forbidden; there was to be 
no more quartering of soldiers on English householders without 
their consent ; (3) the common law was declared to be above 
martial law, and recent practices in violation of this principle 
were forbidden ; (4) arbitrary imprisonment was declared 
illegal and forbidden, a prohibition which was particularly 
distasteful to the king, who thus lost the power to coerce his 
subjects. But Coke and his followers insisted, and Charles 
was forced to yield. 

The petition was sent up to the king with the promise of a 
large grant of money on the understanding that he could not 
have the money unless he signed the Petition. The money 
Assassination was largely used to fit out a new expedition to Re. 
of Buckingham. Buckingham was to lead once more, but before 
the ships had sailed he was assassinated by a personal enemy. 
The fleet proceeded to the French coast, but the venture failed 
as usual. 

The Petition of Right and the death of Buckingham did not 
close the quarrel between the king and parliament. There 
still remained the question of tunnage and poundage which 

1 Review sec. 89. 2 Cheyney, No. 274; Robinson, No. 137. 



THE QUARREL OVER RELIGION 329 

Charles had regularly collected since his accession, though it 
had never been legally granted by parliament. The problem 
Parliament was willing to make an annual grant of of tunnage and 
these revenues, but Charles was unwillling to ac- poun age ' 
cept such an arrangement, as it would make it necessary for 
him to have a meeting of parliament every year. 

299. The Quarrel over Religion. 1 1629. This dispute 
soon became entangled with another about religious matters. 
William Laud, who was now bishop of London, had begun to 
discard the opinions of Calvin and to favor those of a Dutch 
theologian, Arminius, who a generation earlier Laud and 
had taught that man was not totally depraved Armnuanism. 
as Calvin believed, but could assist somewhat in winning sal- 
vation for himself. Laud had a considerable following among 
the high churchmen, and even the king himself was suspected 
of leaning toward the Arminian belief. In addition, Laud was 
strong for the strict enforcement of conformity in Conformity 
worship. It was inevitable that a prelate who in worshl P- 
taught such doctrines as the divine right of bishops, the power 
of man to do something toward earning his own salvation, and 
the desirability of much ceremonial in the public worship, 
should meet determined hostility from the Puritan party. In 
its second session parliament, under the lead of Eliot, attacked 
the clergy for deviating from the old doctrinal standards and 
for reviving obsolete ceremonies. While these matters were 
still under discussion the king ordered parliament Eliot > s 
to be dismissed. When the speaker attempted to resolutions. 

. 1629 

announce the royal will in this matter, two stal- 
wart Puritans held that officer in his chair until Eliot could 
finish reading a set of resolutions against the illegal collection 
of tunnage and poundage, the favor shown to Arminianism, and 
the introduction of Romish ceremonies. 2 After the reading the 
members dispersed. 

King Charles did not neglect to take his revenge. Eliot, 

1 Gardiner, 511-513; Masterman, 119-120. 

2 Cheyney, Nos 276-277; Innes, II, 22-27; Kendall, No. 72. 



330 THE RISE OF THE PURITAN PARTY 

Selden, and several other parliamentary leaders were impris- 
oned and heavily fined. In time all were restored to freedom, 
however, except Eliot, who refused to show proper sorrow for 
his deeds. After two years his health broke down completely 
The king's and death removed him. Eliot was a high- 
revenge, minded, enthusiastic Puritan and endowed with 
all the abilities necessary to a partisan leader ; but he was not 
far-seeing and had little appreciation of statesmanship. 1 So 
great was the king's hatred for this chief of the opposition that 
he refused the request of the family to bury Sir John with his 
ancestors in the tomb of the Eliots. 

300. Reorganization in Virginia. 1624. The quarrel be- 
tween the king and the Puritans also extended to the American 

colonies. The settlement at Jamestown was owned 
Jamestown. . . , T 

by the Virginia (later the London) Company, 

which also exercised the right of government. The company 
had hoped for large returns from its venture, perhaps as large 
as those from the East India Company, but in this it was dis- 
appointed. The colony, however, was not abandoned ; but 
after some years the membership of the London Company was 
changed and a group of Puritan merchants came into control of 
affairs, while the settlement itself remained as before quite 
strongly Anglican. When King James discovered that the 
hated Puritanism controlled the councils of the London Com- 
pany, he determined to end its power. The title 
Virginia r , . . 

placed under of the proprietors was called into question ; the 

royal control. cour t decided as the king wished ; the company 
lost its charter, and Virginia came directly under 
royal control. His new authority the king exercised through 
the privy council. It is likely that King James also planned 
to abolish the legislature that had been granted to the colony 
five years earlier through this same Puritan influence ; but 
he died only a few months later and before the necessary 
measures had been taken. His successor Charles, who hoped 
to eke out his revenues by getting a monopoly of the Virginia 

» Tuell and Hatch, No. 43. 



SUMMARY 331 

tobacco trade, permitted the colony to retain its assembly, 
though the authority of the company was never restored. 

301. Summary. The Puritan movement began in the 
earlier years of the English reformation in a feeling that the 
ritual of the church ought to be simplified. In the reign of 
Elizabeth the Puritans came to believe that the government 
of the church was also in need of reconstruction : on this point 
there was no general agreement, though it is likely that a Pres- 
byterian form was widely favored. In the Stuart period they 
came to stand for Calvinistic doctrine in opposition to the 
Arminian views of Laud and the high churchmen p latform of 
who followed his lead. As the Stuart kings allied the Puritan 
themselves with the enemies of Puritanism, the par y ' 
Puritan movement also came to stand for parliamentary gov- 
ernment and taxation as against absolute monarchy and arbitrary 
taxation. While James was king, there was no serious clash be- 
tween the king and the Puritan party, for King James lacked 
the courage to force the fight ; but when Charles became king, 
the lines were drawn for battle on both sides, and for four years 
the king had to deal with hostile Puritan parliaments. The 
incapacity of the king, the favors that he showed to Bucking- 
ham, and the dismal failure of his military ventures did much 
to strengthen the Puritan opposition. In 1629 King Charles 
had almost no choice but to surrender to the Puritans or to 
govern without a parliament. He chose the latter alternative. 

REFERENCES 

Puritanism and the Puritan parties. — Andrews, History of England, 
320-323; Beard, Introduction to the English Historians, 321-330; Innes, His- 
tory of England, 404-409; Morley, Oliver Cromwell, 42-60. 

Parliamentary opposition to James I. — Beard, 331^346 (Trevelyan); 
Cheyney, Short History of England, 406-410; Fletcher, Introductory History of 
England, I, ii, 235-249; Innes, 394-397; Ransome, Advanced History of Eng- 
land, 494-495, 500-508. 

The rule of Charles I and Buckingham. — Fletcher, I, ii, 279-297; 
Gardiner, Student's History of England, 502-513; Innes, 397-404; Ransome, 
509-520; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 435-439. 



CHAPTER XV 
THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT 

302. Government by Privy Council. The Petition of Right 
is one of the great landmarks in the history of England. The 
document has great constitutional and historical significance ; 
but more important is the fact that its adoption virtually forced 
Charles I farther along the road toward practical absolutism. 
Parliament had proved refractory : instead of assisting the king 
and providing the needed funds, it had tried to restrain the 
Eleven years monarch and control his government. Charles 
of arbitrary accordingly determined to make an experiment in 
government without a legislature, and for eleven 
years the representatives of the nation were not consulted in 
any matter of governmental action or policy. 

It was the king's purpose to carry on the administration 

through the privy council and its courts or committees. 1 This 

The privy a g encv > which the Tudors had found so useful and 

council in efficient, saw the highest development of its power 

imes. « n t ^ e £ rgt ^ a if f tne seventeenth century, and 

since the early Stuart period its decline has been swift ; at 
present it has a membership of nearly three hundred highly 
honored and very able men, but it is rarely called upon to trans- 
act governmental business. In Stuart times it was a compara- 
tively small body of about forty members or a few more, all 
appointed by the king himself. The weakness of such a sys- 
tem is apparent, however ; as royal appointees, the privy coun- 
cillors might be expected to represent only one party or faction 
in the state. It is, indeed, true that Charles did not shut the 
opposition out altogether : such active Puritans as the elder 

1 Review sec. 194. 
332 



THE TWO PROBLEMS: FINANCE AND RELIGION 333 

Sir Henry Vane and the cunning Lord Saye (who is also re- 
membered for promoting a settlement in Connecti- opposition 
cut) were councillors during these years. There members in 
were also many moderate royalists and churchmen * e counc ■ 
in the privy council ; but the majority and the most influential 
members were men after the king's own heart and mind. 

303. The Two Problems: Finance and Religion. There 
was no law to compel the king to summon a parliament, and 
the people had not always felt the necessity or even the desira- 
bility of frequent or regular parliamentary sessions, as such 
meetings were expensive and usually meant new or increased 
taxes. If Charles could have carried on the gov- The problem 
ernment without violating English laws, no great of finance - 
complaint would have been heard. But this was impossible. 
As king he had certain ancient revenues, largely feudal sur- 
vivals, which he could lawfully collect and which centuries 
before had been fairly adequate. 1 Times had changed, how- 
ever, and Charles' predecessors had found it necessary to ask 
for frequent money grants from parliament. 

The chief question that the king had to face was, therefore, 
a financial one : where was he to find revenues to carry on an 
expensive government and to support an extrava- Arbitrary 
gant court? The situation forced him to adopt methods of 
unusual and questionable methods of taxation. 
It was these that most aroused the indignation of his subjects. 
Many Englishmen who sympathized with the king's religious 
policy regarded his financial exactions as a violation of the con- 
stitution which called for resistance. 

Second in importance was the religious issue. Up to this 
time the Puritans had been the more aggressive party; now 
the conservative Anglican, who loved the stately The religious 
ceremonial of the Prayer Book, had found a mighty lssue - 
leader in William Laud, Bishop of London, who combined a 
veneration for the historic church with a vigorous dislike for 
all forms of pruning. Bishop Laud possessed considerable 

1 Review sec. 146. 



334 THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT 

abilities : his will was iron ; his energy inexhaustible. It 
seemed clear that both Laud and the non-conforming Puritans 
violated the statutes governing the church : the Puritans by 
omitting significant matters in the ceremonial ; Laud and the 
high churchmen by making unwarranted additions, either by 
reviving discarded forms or by borrowing from the storehouse 
of the Catholic church. On the whole, however, it seems that 
Bishop Laud kept closer to the law ; the Puritans, in trying to 
evade what the statutes specifically commanded, were greater 
offenders than he, who merely revived what was not expressly 
forbidden. But Laud was tactless and obstinate, and his exas- 
perating methods drove moderate Englishmen in large numbers 
into the ranks of the Puritan opposition. 

304. Bishop Laud and the Puritans. The Puritans were 
especially numerous in eastern England from the Thames 
Strongholds of northward to the Humber. It was from this sec- 
Puritanism. t j on that the great migration to New England 
came during the reign of Charles I. The intellectual center of 
Puritanism was the University of Cambridge. The region 

about Cambridge had long been responsive to the 
Cambridge. . , . *> . . & *V _ 

newer ideas in religion : a century earlier Lranmer 

and his associates in the Protestant revolt had gone forth from 
this university ; later Cambridge sent forth Burleigh and Par- 
ker, but its colleges also produced Thomas Cartwright and 
Robert Browne. 1 The tendency toward radicalism in this 
region was in part due to the fact that it was the wool district 
of England, and consequently was in close touch with the Con- 
tinent, especially with the United Netherlands which were one 
of the strongholds of Calvinism. The English Pilgrims who 
migrated early in the century went to Holland ; on the other 
The wool hand Flemish and Walloon weavers in consider- 

district. a ^i e num bers had settled in the wool district and 

were sowing seeds of hostility to Anglicanism. In many par- 
ishes the entire congregation had become Puritan under the 
influence of priests educated at Cambridge. This condition 

1 Review sees. 206, 247, 279-280. 



FINANCIAL EXACTIONS 335 

Laud was determined to rectify. As bishop of the great dio- 
cese of London, he was the ruler in church affairs of the Puritans 
of Essex ; as privy councillor and strong friend of the king, he 
had much influence in the government of the kingdom. This 
influence became authority in 1633, when Laud became arch- 
bishop of Canterbury and primate of the national church. 1 

A bishop is primarily a superintendent; and as such Arch- 
bishop Laud proceeded to investigate the situation in the English 
church. The years 1634-1637 were the period of Laud's "visi- 
Laud's "visitations," which carried the Archbishop's tations." 
deputies into all parts of England to determine, among other 
things, whether the priests carried out the law as Laud under- 
stood it. Priests who were not found obedient or repentant 
were disciplined. The engine that was used to enforce obedi- 
ence upon clergymen and others who violated religious stat- 
utes was the Court of High Commission. 2 This court of High 
was a committee of the privy council which, as Commi ssion. 
will be recalled, was created in the reign of Elizabeth, chiefly to 
deal with the Romanist recusants. Though the high commis- 
sion took.no life, its punishments were still very severe. Of 
this court Archbishop Laud was a leading member. 

305. Financial Exactions. 3 During these same years, 1634- 
1637, the period of Laud's warfare on the Puritan clergy, there 
arose a stern opposition to the king's financial tyranny. The 
royal strong-box was sadly in need of replenishing, and to pro- 
vide funds additional customs duties were levied ; Fi nancia i 
monopolies were created ; and old long-forgotten methods of 
laws were revived for the purpose of levying fines 
for their violation or forcing monetary settlements. Even such 
a necessary article as soap was made the subject of monop- 
oly, and Englishmen were forbidden to use any other brand 
than the one that the privy council had approved. It was once 
the rule that all men who possessed a certain amount of wealth 
should apply to the king for knighthood, which would be 
granted in consideration of a fee. This custom had become 

1 Innes, II, 31-35. 2 Review sec. 282. 3 Review sec. 195. 



336 THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT 



Ship money. 



obsolete ; but Charles, seeing another source of revenue, tried 
to revive the practice. At one time he even bought a ship 
load of pepper on credit and sold it at a low price to secure a 
little ready cash. 

The most famous expedient employed was the exaction of 
ship money from the inland counties. Since the time of the 
Danish invasions it had been customary for the 
shore towns to provide ships for the royal navy or to 
furnish an equivalent in money. Charles preferred the latter. 

With the ships and the 
money he built a fine and 
efficient fleet; but he 
failed to provide ade- 
quate food and wages for 
the sailors, and a few 
years later, when the 
civil war broke out, the 
dissatisfied crews saw the 
opportunity for revenge 
and deserted to the Puri- 
tans, who probably would 
have lost the fight but for 
the fleet that Charles I 
built with the hated ship 
money. 

King Charles also tried 
to collect ship money 
from the interior coun- 
ties. Whether it could 
be legally collected in 
times of peace even from the seaports was doubtful ; for such 
John levies elsewhere in England there was no prece- 

Hampden. dent. The levy met much opposition ; and John 
Hampden, 1 a squire from Buckingham, supported by Lord Saye 
and perhaps by other lords, determined to take the matter into 

1 Gardiner, 523-524; Tuell and Hatch, No. 46 (Firth). 




John Hampden 
From an engraving by Goldar. 



STAR CHAMBER AND COURT OF HIGH COMMISSION 337 

the courts. The case was heard before twelve of the king's 
judges, a majority of whom finally (1638) rendered a decision 
favorable to the king. Hampden's case aroused great interest 
throughout the nation and was largely instrumental in forming 
a compact opposition which became determined to deprive 
monarchy of the sovereign power. 




The Old Star Chamber, Westminster 
In this building the Star Chamber Court held its sessions. 

306. The Star Chamber l and the Court of High Commis- 
sion. At the time, however, open opposition to the king's de- 
mands was fraught with considerable danger. Thg gt&r 
Comparable to the court of high commission on Chamber in 
the secular side was the famous Star Chamber ^.Stuart 
court, which dealt with refractory nobles and 
gentlemen. During the century of the Tudors the star cham- 
ber had often proved useful in stamping out lawlessness; but 
under the Stuarts it degenerated into an engine of tyranny. 
Like the high commission, it was a committee of the privy 

1 Cheyney, No. 278; Gardiner, 519-520; review sec. 193. 



338 THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT 

council ; and many of the councillors, Archbishop Laud for 
one, sat in both courts. It had lost whatever reputation it 
had ever had for justice and mercy ; one of its favorite forms 
of punishment was mutilation, especially the cutting of ears ; 
but long imprisonment, heavy fines, and exposure in the pillory 
were also employed. 

307. Colonial Growth. The king's persistence in employ- 
ing methods of doubtful legality and more especially the in- 
sistence of the bishops on ceremonial uniformity were indirectly 
of vast importance and benefit to the world: they led to the 
Puritan migration to New England. These eleven years of 
Stuart tyranny (1629-1640) were of immense importance to 
America American history. If a ship had sailed north- 

in 1628. ward from the West Indies to Canada in 1628, 

only four settlements of any consequence could have been 
found on the long stretch of nearly two thousand miles of coast 
land. At St. Augustine in Florida, the Spaniards had a settle- 
ment which was a military post rather than a colony. On the 
James River in Virginia was a group of English settlements 
which were rapidly developing in extent and stability. A few 
Dutch traders had settled on Manhattan Island, the site of the 
future New York. On the Massachusetts coast was a weak 
settlement at Plymouth. Of these four, only the colony of 
Virginia then showed any great promise. 

In the founding of the colony at Plymouth l eight years be- 
fore, the English government had no direct part. The English 
Pilgrims in Holland, 2 fearing that they would lose their char- 
acter as Englishmen if they remained indefinitely among the 
The Pilgrims Dutch, determined to settle in the New World on 
at Plymouth, ^ e i anc [ s f the London Company. They asked 
the government for toleration in their new home, but received 
no direct reply. King James, however, promised informally 
to "connive" at their religious practices, and on this assurance 
they undertook the venture. Instead of reaching the shores 
that had been selected, they landed on the coast of Cape Cod. 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 265-266; Tuell and Hatch, No. 42. 2 See sec. 286, 






THE PURITAN MIGRATION TO NEW ENGLAND 339 

The importance of the Plymouth colony was never great ; but 
it served as a suggestion and example to the dissatisfied Puritans 
who were planning colonies in the next reign. 

308. The Puritan Migration to New England. 1 1628- 
1640. In 1628 while parliament was debating the Petition of 
Right, certain wealthy and influential Puritans in eastern Eng- 
land were preparing to found a settlement on the Settleme nts 
Massachusetts coast; and in the autumn of the on Massachu- 

1 ,01 setts B& y- 

same year a beginning was made at baiem on 
the ruins of an earlier colony that had disbanded shortly before. 
During the following decade some 20,000 of England's strong- 
est, most serious, and most intelligent citizens left the father- 
land for the New England. Their settlements were scattered 
along the coast and some distance inland from what is now 
Maine to the limits of New Netherland. The settlers came 
chiefly from the great Puritan section in the east and south, as 
can be readily seen in the reproduction of English geographical 
names in the new colonies. 

The spread of settlements follows closely the development of 
royal absolutism in England. During the years of Laud's 
visitation and the trouble over ship money (1634- spread of 
1618) settlements were formed at Hartford, Say- settlement in 

. , 1 ^r tt 117-u ^u New England. 

brook, Providence, and New Haven. When the 

Long Parliament was called in 1640, the tide of migration at 

once began to wane. 

Many of the New England leaders were Cambridge men. 
The first American college (Harvard, 1636) was founded on 
the model of a Cambridge college and was named after a young 
Puritan minister from Cambridge. In the west The Cam _ 

the leaders realized their ideals of Puritanism: bridge in- 

, fluence. 
they organized their churches on a congregational 

basis, but they did not draw any firm line between church and 
state: on the contrary, they associated the functions of the 
state and the church very closely. The Massachusetts Puri- 
tans enforced their ideas of conduct as rigidly as Laud ever 

1 Kendall, No. 73. 



340 THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT 

pursued the ideal of uniformity in worship. Some of the 

leaders in the opposition movement in Old England also had 

an important part in the building of New England. Sir 

Henry Vane was for a year governor of Massachusetts. Two 

of the leading nobles of the kingdom, Lord Saye and Lord 

Brooke, were instrumental in the settlement of Connecticut. 

They were both counted as opponents of the Stuart policy. 

The year after Laud's appointment to the primacy (1634), 

suspicion arose that he was planning to extend his operations 

to the new colonies in New England. There was 
Laud's plan . . 

to extend his no good reason why he should not extend his visi- 

authority to tations to America, if he desired to do so ; but his 
deputies did not arrive. The same year, however, 
the privy council created a commission to oversee colonial 
affairs, and of this body Laud was made a member. Massa- 
chusetts was ordered to lay its charter before the privy council, 
but the young colony refused. The refusal had been deter- 
mined upon after prayerful consideration which was accom- 
panied by more worldly activities in the way of efforts to 
Defiant atti- fortify Boston harbor. The defiant attitude of 
tude of Mas- the American Puritans was permitted to go un- 
punished, however, as troubles were beginning to 
multiply in Britain, and the king thought it inexpedient to 
divide his energies. 

309. The Catholics in Maryland. During the same decade 
the Calvert family planted the colony of Maryland, a settle- 
Maryland, ment of Roman Catholics who were afflicted by 
1634 occasional enforcement of anti-Catholic laws. 
Thus England had two blocks of settlement on the American 
mainland, the New England towns in the north and Virginia 
and Maryland in the south. Further expansion was in- 
evitable as a matter of colonial defense, if for no other reason. 

310. The War in Europe and its Effect on Colonization. 
England's success as a colonizing nation in this decade was due 
chiefly to two causes : the unsatisfactory condition in the king- 
dom, which induced thousands to seek new homes in the West ; 



OPPOSITION TO CHARLES IN SCOTLAND 341 

and the general situation in Europe, which prevented the other 
maritime nations from interfering with the English colonial 
ventures. In the days of Eliot and Laud the Thirty Years' 
War had reached its culmination. In the summer when the 
Puritans were founding the city of Boston, Gustavus Adolphus 
landed in Germany. The war now involved al- The Thirty 
most every nation in Europe except those of the Years ' War - 
British Isles. The influence of the great conflict on English 
history is traceable at many points. It was no doubt the fear 
of Roman Catholic success, which in the early years of Charles' 
reign seemed assured, that intensified Puritan opposition to the 
supposedly Roman inclinations of William Laud. The war also 
gave England free hands in the New World : neither Spain nor 
France nor Holland, all of which nations had colonial interests 
in North America, could spare any energies from the battle- 
fields of the great conflict in Germany. Nor did the colonies 
of the other European nations that had settled the 
mainland north of the Gulf of Mexico show much the war on 

thrift and vigor : in the motherlands neither men Ame «c an 

. . . , . . colonization, 

nor money could be spared from the great war. 

There was, therefore, little mentionable progress in Canada, 

the New Netherlands, New Sweden, or Florida. 

311. Opposition to Charles in Scotland; l the Covenant. 

What saved the Puritan colonies from interference by Charles 

and Laud was not the resolute spirit of Massachusetts, but a 

far more defiant opposition of the king's northern kingdom. 

In England there was hopeless division on the question of 

religion ; in Scotland there was unity to the point The religious 

of fanaticism : the Scotch population was over- question in 

whelmingly Presbyterian. Charles, encouraged by cot an ' 

his hard-fought success in dealing with the Puritans, unwisely 

determined to interfere with the Scotch church. Laud was 

anxious to give the Scotchmen an orderly form of worship : 

it was accordingly planned to force episcopal government and 

the Anglican ceremonial on an unwilling people. For more 

1 Gardiner, 524-526. 



342 



THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT 



than half a century there had been bishops in Scotland ; but 
their authority had never been extensive. The people ignored 
them and their offices were of little importance except to the 
nobles who secured their appointment and in return shared 




Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh 
Holyrood was built about 1500 and became the chief residence of the Scotch kings. 

the revenues that they collected. Charles hoped to strengthen 
A prayer book tne position of his Scotch bishops ; but trouble 
for Scotland, came in 1637 when he ordered these bishops to 
formulate a prayer book for the Scotch worshipers 
after the Anglican pattern. An attempt to use the new service 
book in the Scotch churches during the summer met with de- 
termined opposition which in places amounted to riots. The 
The National Scotchmen determined to resist the king's plans, 
Covenant. and thousands signed a pledge called the National 
Covenant, by which they agreed to use every 
lawful effort to restore the Presbyterian system. 

This was the year of Hampden's trial ; that victory was the 
king's last. He retreated from the position taken and called 



THOMAS WENTWORTH, EARL OF STRAFFORD 343 

a General Assembly of Presbyterian churchmen and prominent 
laymen which was to determine the future of the Scotch church. 
But as the assembly insisted on taking up important Defiance of 
subjects that were forbidden, the royal represen- the General 
tative dissolved the body. The assembly, however, ssembl y- 
refused to be dissolved and continued its sessions. Thus the 
Scotch nation in 1638 was in virtual rebellion against its king. 

312. The First Bishops' War. 1639. The result illustrates 
the inherent weakness and danger of a union of kingdoms in the 
person of the king : an aggrieved monarch is likely to bring 
against his subjects the military power of his other kingdom. 
Charles resolved upon war ; he promptly raised an English 
force and marched towards the border. Here he was met by 
a smaller Scotch army under the command of General Leslie, 
who had learned warfare in the camps of Gustavus Adolphus. 
It seems that Charles had every advantage ; but war with the 
dissatisfaction ruled among his soldiers and in- Scotch- 
competence among his officers ; and the First Bishops' War 
came to an end without a single battle. In the treaty that was 
agreed to in Berwick, King Charles acceded to the Scotch de- 
mands that the affairs of the kingdom should be settled by an 
assembly and a parliament chosen freely by the nation. But 
Charles soon repented of his weakness : the agreement was not 
carried out and preparations were made for a new war. 

313. Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. Charles I 
was usually unfortunate in the choice of his advisers : most of 
them were weak, impolitic men, who initiated no policies, but 
merely tried to execute the sovereign's will. But in 1639 a 
strong man appeared at the king's side at West- 

minster. Thomas Wentworth, who was soon to 
become earl of Strafford, had opposed the king in the early years 
of his reign, and had followed the lead of Coke and Selden in 
insisting upon the Petition of Right. But when the opposition 
identified itself with Puritanism and followed Eliot in an attack 
on the episcopacy and the Laudian beliefs, Wentworth deserted 
its ranks and became a member of the king's party. Wentworth 



344 THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT 



was a man of energy and foresight ; next to the great Cromwell 
he was probably the strongest English statesman of his age. 
He had developed a political theory according to which mon- 
archy was to be the central 
fact in the state. Went- 
worth believed in good gov- 
ernment and in an honest 
and equitable administra- 
tion ; and he believed that 
an unfettered kingship could 
achieve these results better 
and more readily than a par- 
liament that was split into 
hostile factions. 

There can be no doubt 
that Wentworth was .en- 
tirely in sympathy with the 
purposes of Charles and 
Laud ; but he was not pres- 
ent at court and can have 
had little to do with actual 
administrative details. For 
some years after 1629 he 
ruled the northern counties 
as president of the Council of the North, a local division of 
Strafford in the privy council. Later he was sent to Ireland as 
Ireland. j orc j d e p U ty or viceroy, and for six years he gov- 

erned the island with a strong hand, though in many respects 
his rule was intelligent and beneficial. He ruined the Irish 
wool trade to remove a competitor from the foreign markets ; 
but in return he built up the linen industry, which has since 
been an important occupation among the Irish, especially in 
Ulster. He kept peace and promoted prosperity among the 
less wealthy classes, but his methods were arbitrary and severe. 1 
In 1639 Wentworth's career in Ireland closed; he was re- 

1 Innes, II, 27-31. 




Thomas Wentworth, Earl of 
Strafford 

After a painting by Van Dyck. 



THE SHORT PARLIAMENT. JOHN PYM 



345 



called to England and for a year he was the controlling force in 
the councils of Charles I. Plans were now being made for a new 
war with Scotland, but funds were wanting. Wentworth, 
who was now Earl Strafford, believed that the English people 
were favorable to the project and anxious to wipe out the dis- 
grace of the First Bishops' War. Furthermore, a Scotch army 
on the border was a continuous menace to the peace The situation 
of England. He, therefore, with all the other in 1639 - 
members of the privy 
council, urged the king 
to call a parliament that 
funds might be provided 
for use against the 
northern enemy. Thus 
after eleven years, on the 
unanimous advice of 
the privy council, the 
king gave up the at- 
tempt to govern without 
consulting the nation ; 
the Stuart experiment 
of government by coun- 
cil had failed. 

314. The Short Par- 
liament. John Pym. 
The Short Parliament 
that met in the spring 
of 1640 did not prove so 
loyal as had been hoped; 
it insisted on redress of the many grievances from which the 
nation had suffered for a decade and instead of The Short 
voting money counseled peace with the Scotch. Parliament. 
After a session of about three weeks, the Short 164 °" 
Parliament was dissolved without having taken any action 
worth mentioning. The session was chiefly remarkable for the 
appearance on the Puritan side of a shrewd and capable leader 




John Pym 
After a portrait by Cornelius Janssen. 



346 THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT 

of Wentworth's type in the person of a wealthy country gen- 
tleman from Somersetshire, John Pym. 

John Pym was one of the few chiefs among the Puritans who 
had worked out a fairly consistent scheme of government. 

According to his ideas, sovereignty rested with 
John Pym. , . to , . , , i • , - • , 

parliament, to which the king s ministers should 

be responsible. Apparently he favored a scheme somewhat 

like the present system of cabinet rule. His political theory 

was therefore fundamentally different from that of Strafford. 

So long as the king raised revenues in an equitable manner, 

taxing the citizens strictly according to their ability to pay, it 

made little difference according to Strafford's views, by what 

authority the taxes were imposed. With Pym the supremely 

important consideration was to have revenues raised by the 

proper authority, which he held was parliament and parliament 

alone. 

315. The Second Bishops' War and the Treaty of Ripon. 
1640. The Second Bishops' War was even more disastrous than 
Second war tne nrst - Charles' army was ill provided, dis- 
with the satisfied, and disloyal to the point of mutiny. 

Strafford was finally placed in command ; but his 
efforts to introduce discipline merely fanned the flame of re- 
bellion. A treaty was negotiated at Ripon which insured to 
Treaty of the Scotch all the advantages that they had thus 

Ripon. f ar gained. King Charles even agreed to pay an 

indemnity, and until the money should be paid the Scotch were 
•to keep two of the northern counties as a pledge. 

The treaty of Ripon marks the close of Stuart absolutism. 
Charles I could no longer govern by the aid of- his privy council 
Collapse of alone, for that body had exhausted all the sources 
personal of revenue at its command ; and now that the king 

government. had promised to pay a Scotch army for rising in 
rebellion against him, he was in greater need of money than 
ever before. There was nothing to do but to lay the whole 
miserable matter before parliament. Elections were ordered 
once more, and on November 3 the houses met. This was the 



EXECUTION OF STRAFFORD. 1641 



347 



famous Long Parliament which with long interruptions legis- 
lated for England until it finally dissolved itself nearly twenty 
years later. 

316. The Long Parliament. 1640. 1 It was a determined 
body of men that made up the last parliament of Charles I. 
The electors had gone to the polls in an angry frame of mind; 
and, while many moderate members were chosen, the majority 
favored changes as " thorough" as any that Straf- Tem er f 
ford had ever proposed. On the subject of reform the Long 

in the government the house was practically a ariament - 
unit, though there was considerable disagreement as to meas- 
ures. But on the matter of changes in the church there was 
no such unanimity ; and it was the effort of a weak majority to 
change the constitution of the Anglican church that finally 
disrupted the government and drove the nation to civil war. 

John Pym was again the leader of the opposition. He was 
seconded by Hampden, Selden, the younger Vane, and Oliver 
Cromwell, who had sat in silence through the Leaders of 
Short Parliament. 2 Among the more moderate the opposition 
reformers were Edward Hyde, a young lawyer of t0 the king * 
considerable ability, and Lord Falkland, who is remembered 
chiefly for his unselfish devotion to what he believed was right, 
and for his vain efforts to secure honorable peace between the 
contending factions. But of all the leaders of the Long Par- 
liament, Edward Hyde and Oliver Cromwell were the best 
equipped, though the talents of neither had been discovered 
in 1640. 

317. Execution of Strafford. 3 1641. Eight days after 
the sessions had begun, the house of commons voted almost 
unanimously to impeach Strafford, and a month Arrest of 
later ordered Archbishop Laud to be confined in Strafford 
the Tower, where he remained three weary years, 

which closed with his execution. Strafford was in Yorkshire 

1 Masterman, 123. 2 Innes, II, 38-42. 

3 Cheyney, No. 280: Gardiner, 530-531; Innes, II, 50-57; Kendall, No. 76; Tuell 
and Hatch, No. 47. 



348 THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT 

with the army, but came to Westminster on the king's command. 
It was difficult to prove that Strafford had violated the treason 
laws, and to make sure that the strong earl should not escape, 
parliament passed a bill of attainder instead of completing the 
impeachment proceedings. A little earlier the parliamentary 
leaders had learned that the king was planning to liberate 
Strafford and that the queen was plotting with the officers of 
the army in Yorkshire. So great was the excitement when these 
Execution of matters were revealed, that the king felt compelled 
Strafford. to Drea k his pledge to Strafford and sign the bill 

of attainder for fear that a refusal would result in serious riot 
and endanger the life of the queen. 1 

318. Reforms of the Long Parliament. 2 For nearly a 
year the opposition held together and passed a number of 
highly important acts. The various courts that had grown 
out of the privy council, such as the star chamber and the court 
of high commission, were abolished. Ship money as collected 
by Charles was declared illegal. The king was also deprived 
A series of °^ n * s °ther irregular sources of revenue : he was 
important forbidden to fine his subjects for violating obsolete 

forest laws or for neglecting to seek the honor of 
knighthood. It was definitely enacted that tunnage and pound- 
age could be collected only when granted by parliament. To 
prevent a repetition of personal monarchy it was enacted that 
there should not be a longer period than three years between 
parliaments ; and to be sure that it would be able to carry out 
its program, the Long Parliament resolved that it should not be 
dissolved without its own consent. All these measures received 
the royal assent. They had met . scarcely any opposition in 
parliament, and the king had no choice but to accept the bills 
that came up to him though their purpose was to destroy the 
Stuart system of government and to chain the king's hands. 

319. The Grand Remonstrance. 1641. All these reforms 
were carried out during the first session. When the second 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 281-283; Kendall, No. 77. 
- Gardiner, 531; Masterman, 124-127. 



CHARLES AND THE FIVE MEMBERS 349 

session opened in the fall of the same year (1641), it was found 
that unanimity was gone. The two great problems now before 
parliament were the army and the church. In Divisions in 
the same autumn a revolt broke out in Ireland, parliament. 
To suppress this an army would be necessary, which, according 
to law, would be under the king's orders. It was feared, how- 
ever, and with the best of reasons, that the king, who had such 
an elastic public conscience in contrast to his very rigid private 
one, could not be trusted with an army : it might be used against 
parliament instead of against the Irish. In their anger and per- 
plexity the majority determined to appeal to the The « Grand 

English nation which they did in a curious document Remon- 

. 1 j. strance." 

called the "Grand Remonstrance,' x which in form 

was an address to the king. The Remonstrance is composed of 
three chief parts : a statement of the king's errors as a ruler ; 
a list of important reforms already enacted; and a project 
for further changes, especially in the church. It was over the 
last part of the Remonstrance that the disagree- a royalist 
ment appeared. A royalist party of considerable party - 
strength now came to be formed under the leadership of Hyde 
and Falkland. 2 

320. Charles and the Five Members. It had been a 
terrible year for the king and the queen, but, with the clash 
in parliament over church legislation and the formation of a 
moderate group, Charles and his partisans found new hope and 
courage. When the new year came he was ready Charles takes 
to take the offensive. The latter half of the year the offensive, 
the king had spent in Scotland making efforts to compose affairs 
among his rebellious subjects there. It had come to his knowl- 
edge that Pym and certain other Puritan leaders had been in 
communication with the Scotch prior to the Second Bishops' 
War, and he believed they had invited the invasion. If this 
were true, they were guilty of treason. On January 3 he 
brought charges in the house of lords against one peer and five 
members of the house of commons. Impeachment by the king 

1 Lines, II, 62-64. ' Ibid > TT ' °S-° 8 - 



35Q THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT 

was a new procedure and of doubtful legality ; and the demand 

Attempt to for the arrest of the five members was clearly 

arrest five unprecedented and illegal. As the house of corn- 
members of . 
the house of mons refused to heed his orders, Charles after 

commons. some wavering determined to go in person to make 
the arrest. It was the queen's influence that finally decided 
Charles ; Henrietta Maria feared that her own impeachment 
for efforts to secure aid from the pope and the Catholic 
powers was imminent, and she hoped to remove the danger 
by a bold counter-stroke. So overjoyed was the queen at 
the tardy show of courage on the king's part that she shared 
the secret with one of her ladies, who promptly notified 
Pym and his associates of their danger. The attempt to 
arrest the five members failed ; but Charles, by appearing to 
interfere with the privilege of parliament, had ruined his cause 
forever. 1 

321. Preparations for Civil War. 1642. A week later 
Charles had left London not to return till nearly six years later 
when he came as the prisoner of parliament. In February 
he went to Dover to see Queen Henrietta safely on board a 
Charles I ship for Holland, 2 whither she went ostensibly 

leaves London. to gi ve her daughter in marriage to William (II) of 
Orange, though really to secure help from the Continental 
powers. This, however, was a difficult task, inasmuch as the 
weary nations of Europe had just begun to look forward to the 
close of the Thirty Years' War. A few weeks later King 
Charles took up his abode in York. Meanwhile the quarrel 
continued at Westminster and parliament passed several im- 
portant bills ; but only one, a bill to exclude the bishops from 
the house of lords, received the royal assent and became a law. 
Soon the king's partisans began to leave parliament and gather 

in York. By midsummer both sides were collect- 
Civil war. 

ing forces for the conflict that was sure to come. 

On August 22, the royal standard was set up at Nottingham 

i Cheyney, No. 285; Kendall, No. 78; Tuell and Hatch, No. 45 (Gardiner); 
Gardiner, 535-536. 2 Cheyney, Nos. 291-204. 



PREPARATIONS FOR CIVIL WAR. 1642 



35 : 



in Puritan territory: all men were summoned to the king's 
aid, and the civil war was formally opened. 

For this outcome parliament was not wholly blameless: 
by depriving the king of his ancient power to dissolve the houses 
it virtually declared itself independent of the royal Responsibmty 
will and wrought a complete change in the consti- f parliament 
tution of the kingdom ; it now threatened to trans- ^f^ 
form the government of the national church by 
making its officials subordinate to parliament. But the chief 




Nottingham Castle (restored) 
In front of Nottingham Castle Charles I raised his standard in 1642 and gave 
the signal for civil war. From a drawing by W. 



Westall. 



and his 



Responsibility 
of Charles 
and his 
counselors. 



part of the blame must be charged to the kin 
counselors, especially Archbishop Laud and At- 
torney General Noy, who strengthened him in his 
purposes to do what the law clearly forbade. 
King Charles possessed an unusually attractive 
personality : he was a handsome man and had all the dig- 
nity of a king. He had also certain private virtues that are 
not always found in kings : he was kind and devoted to his 
family ; in personal matters he was honest and upright ; and 



352 THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT 

he strove to be loyal to his friends. But he also possessed in 
full measure the stubborn tenacity of the Stuarts and their 
inordinate appreciation of the kingly character and office. 
Character of Too long had King Charles listened to those 
Charles I. wno nac i taught that in matters of government 
the only test of right and wrong, of legality and illegality, 
was the sovereign's own intentions. There were certain hin- 
drances in the way of a complete realization of the Stuart theo- 
ries, and to overcome these the king made use of expedients 
that were not honest. He was constantly asking his subjects to 
accept his "royal word ; " but the royal word of Charles Stuart 
was utterly worthless. 

322. Stuart Absolutism: Summary. The period from 
1629 to 1642 falls into four divisions. (1) During the first 
four years, the king was organizing the machinery of govern- 
ment, looking for men upon whom he could depend, punishing 
Development the leaders of the opposition, and experimenting 
of absolutism. w jth new forms of taxation. This was also the 
period of extensive colonization in New England. (2) In 1633 
Laud was placed at the head of the English church, and the 
king was ready to establish absolutism in every field of govern- 
ment. This was the period of persecution of Puritan clergymen 
and of the agitation over ship money. But "personal govern- 
ment" had an active period of a little more than three years 
only (1633-1637). (3) In 1637 began the trouble with Scotland 
over episcopal offices and a new ritual, and the Stuart system 
broke down when Charles failed to overcome the Scotch in the 
Failure of two Bishops' Wars. (4) In 1640 parliament was 

personal again summoned. The Long Parliament enacted 

governmen . a number of very important constitutional reforms ; 
but when the parliamentarians began to attack the English 
church, the party split, and a strong royalist faction was formed 
under the leadership of Hyde and Falkland. A few month3 
later, King Charles proclaimed civil war (1642). 

It is not to be forgotten that the effort to establish absolute 
monarchy in England was not an isolated instance of such a 



STUART ABSOLUTISM: SUMMARY 353 

movement : it was a part of a great movement in that direction 
that covered the entire Continent. When the Absolutism 
seventeenth century closed, absolutism had con- on the 
quered in nearly all the more important states in on inen ' 
Europe, the notable exceptions being the Dutch republic and 
the British kingdom. The failure of personal monarchy in 
England is, therefore, a matter of European importance. 

REFERENCES 

Personal government of Charles I. — Cheyney, Short History of Eng- 
land, 418-429; Cross, History of England, 460-473; Innes, History of Eng- 
land, 409-414; Oman, History of England, 366-370; Tout, Advanced History 
of Great Britain, 439-443. 

Laud and the Puritans. — Beard, Introduction to the English Historians, 
355-363 (Gardiner); Fletcher, Introductory History of England, I, ii, 302-308; 
Gardiner, Student's History of England, 516-521; Ransome, Advanced History 
of England, 526-528. 

Financial methods of Charles I. — Cross, 466-468; Fletcher, I, ii, 
308-315; Gardiner, 521-524; Ransome, 528-530. 

The American colonies. — Fletcher, I, ii, c. xx; Ransome, 497-499, 530- 
531; Tout, 423-424- 

Charles I and the Scotch. — Brown, Short History of Scotland, 412-423; 
Fletcher, I, ii, 316-326; Innes, 414- 422; Lang, Short History of Scotland, 179- 
190; Ransome, 532-537; Tout, 443-445. 

The Long Parliament. — Andrews, History of England, 354-361; Beard, 
364-372 (Gardiner); Cress, c. xxix; Firth, Cromwell, c. iii; Fletcher, I, ii, 
327-356; Gardiner, 529-537; Innes, 423-428; Morley, Oliver Cromwell, 
71-84; Oman, 372-379; Ransome, 539-555; Tout, 446-449. 



CHAPTER XVI 
THE AGE OF CROMWELL 

323. Parties of the Civil War. The civil war that broke 
out in the summer of 1642 continued for a little more than three 
years till the autumn of 1645, when the royalist forces began 
The First to disintegrate ; when the following spring came, 
Civil War. ^ e cause of the Stuarts was definitely lost. It is 
called the First Civil War to distinguish it from the brief period 
of hostilities in 1648 which is known as the Second Civil War. 
In this great conflict England was divided socially, politically, 
and geographically, though clear lines of division existed no- 
where. On the one side were the partisans of parliament, by 
which is meant the majority of the house of commons ; on the 
opposite side were gathered the followers of the king, men with 
a profound respect for the historic rights of monarchy, who were 
unwilling to see the royal prerogative diminished in favor of 
Parties in the upstarts in the house of commons. The An- 
the conflict. gHcan naturally drifted into the royal following, 
while the Puritan stood with parliament ; still, there were many 
Puritans who finally chose to support the king. The peers 
with their tenants and retainers were commonly found in the roy- 
alist ranks; at the same time there were many men of sub- 
stance on the side of the revolutionists : the parliamentarian 
armies were commanded by Puritan lords. In general, the 
north and the west rallied to the support of the dynasty, while 
the east and the south sympathized with the parliamentarians. 

324. Advantages and Disadvantages of the Parties. 
When the war broke out, each side had certain decided advan- 
tages, though at first conditions appeared to favor the king. 
The nobles and the gentlemen who volunteered for his service 

354 



ENGLAND 

DURING THE CIVIL WAR 




ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF PARTIES 355 



were men who spent much time in the saddle and were trained 
to the use of arms ; consequently, the king had a The 
reliable army from the very beginning. There Cavaliers - 
were also some excellent officers among these royalist " cav- 
aliers," the most 
noted, though not 
the ablest, of whom 
was Prince Rupert 
of the Prince 

Palati- Ru P ert - 
nate, 1 the king's 
nephew, who won 
fame as a brilliant, 
though somewhat 
reckless, cavalry 
leader. Many of 
the cavaliers were 
very wealthy and 
contributed liberally 
to the royal war 
chest ; but the sup- 
ply was not inex- 
haustible and the 
king was often in 
sore straits for funds. 
On the other 
hand, parliament 
had three distinct 
advantages which eventually led to victory : the parliamenta- 
rians controlled the wealthiest and most populous Advantages of 
section of the kingdom ; they had the support of the Pariia- 
the fleet that King Charles had built and equipped men 
a few years before, with its crews which had been starved in 
the interest of personal monarchy ; and they had possession of 
the ports on the eastern and southern coasts where their customs 

1 See sec. 291. 




Oliver Cromwell 
From an engraving by O. Faber. 



356 THE AGE OF CROMWELL 

officers collected the tunnage and poundage that parliament 
had denied the king. And on the Puritan side was Oliver 
Cromwell, the most capable leader of the age. Cromwell was 
Oliver a country gentleman who had known service in 

Cromwell. parliament l but was entirely without experience 
in warfare. He had, however, military as well as political 
talents, and under his leadership the Puritans developed an 
army that the cavaliers found almost invincible. 

325. Charles' Plan of Campaign. The king established 
his headquarters at Oxford ; and here were gathered a majority 
The king's of the house of lords and a strong minority of the 
government, house of commons whom the king recognized as 
forming the parliament of the kingdom. England thus had 
two capitals and two governments. The parliament at Oxford 
proved, however, of little service in the conduct of war, as the 
king retained his aversion to parliamentary bodies and was 
suspicious even of a legislature composed of his own partisans. 
It was the king's plan to advance to London with three armies : 2 
Military one was collected in the Cornish peninsula, another 
plans of the in Yorkshire, and a third was gathered on the upper 

Thames. During the opening year of the war, 
the successes were chiefly on the royalist side ; but the king's 
generals were nevertheless unable to carry out the plan agreed 
upon, because of the obstinate resistance of the parliamentarians 
at Plymouth and Hull, which prevented the southwestern and 
the northern armies from marching upon the capital. Charles' 
Failure of the own force, the army on the Thames, actually did 
king's plan. advance to within a few miles of London, bnt his 
forces were insufficient to seize and hold the hostile city and he 
marched his troops back to Oxford (November, 1642). 

326. Parliament and the Scotch: Solemn League and 
Covenant. 1644. In the summer of 1644, the parliamentarians 
were facing a dangerous situation. Not only had the royalist 
forces been generally victorious, but the Irish rebellion 3 had 
spread to the entire island, and it was conceivable that the king 

1 See sec. 296. 2 Gardiner, 537-538. 3 Ibid., 541. 






THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 1643-1649 



357 



might make terms with the Irish rebels in return for assistance 
against his English enemies. Accordingly, Pym and his asso- 
ciates began to look for help among the Scotch. A commission 
headed by the younger Vane was sent to Edinburgh Henry Vane 
to negotiate an alliance. The Scots, having a in Scotlan d- 

natural fear that the 
king after crushing out 
Puritanism would renew 
the warfare on Scotland, 
were not averse to join- 
ing the English parlia- 
mentarians ; but they 
insisted that there could 
be no alliance unless 
England should accept 
the Presbyterian sys- 
tem. Sir Henry Vane 
was a Puritan and a 
republican ; but he dis- 
liked the intolerant atti- 
tude of the Presbyte- 
rians, and was unwilling 
to grant the The alliance 
Scotch de- with the Scots. 

mand. He agreed, how- 
ever, that the English 
church should be reorganized "according to the best example of 
the reformed churches and the word of God." To this the 
Scotchmen could not object, and an agreement known as the 
Solemn League and Covenant was entered into by the two 
parties. Soon after the new year had begun, a Scotch army 
entered England. 

327. The Westminster Assembly. 1643-1649. While Vane 
was negotiating with the Scots, an assembly of English Pres- 
theologians was in session at Westminster wrestling bytenamsm. 
with the problem of church reform. It was intended that this 




Sir Henry Vane the Younger 
After a portrait by Sir Peter Lely 



358 THE AGE OF CROMWELL 

body should represent all the religious parties in England, 

but all that were appointed were not willing to attend the 

sessions, and the assembly proved to be dominated by the 

Presbyterians. 1 A few of the members, however, opposed 

extensive departures from the Anglican system ; among these 

was the famous lawyer John Selden. For nearly 

JohnSelden. . , ,,, TT J . J _. . „ \ 

six years the Westminster Divines continued 

their labors ; they finally drew up a new order of worship and 
a creed, the well-known Westminster Confession, which is still 
the standard of Presbyterian beliefs, though some of its doc- 
trines are now held more loosely than formerly. 

328. The Puritan Sects. Presbyterianism was, neverthe- 
less, not to become the ruling system in England. When time 
came for Puritanism to be expressed in a definite platform, it 
Break-up of was found that the emphasis that had been placed 
Puritanism. on ^ e rights of the individual to shape his beliefs 
according to his own judgment and conscience had split the 
party into a number of fragments, of which the Presbyterian 
was no doubt the largest. 2 But during the civil war and the 
George Fox following years, a number of religious movements 
and the developed and received recognition as "sects." 

George Fox, the originator of the Quaker move- 
ment, began his activities shortly before the Westminster 
Assembly finished its work. A little earlier (1644) the Baptist 
movement took definite form by the adoption of a creed to 
Baptists and which several London churches subscribed. What 
Congrega- is now known as Congregationalism took on more 

definite form during the same years. These and 
other related sects agreed in claiming self-government in re- 
ligious matters for each local group of believers : hence the 
Puritans who had accepted the Presbyterian standards spoke 
of them as " Independents." Among the more prominent 
leaders who accepted "Independency" were Sir Henry Vane, 
John Milton, and Oliver Cromwell. 

1 Bates and Coman, 308-309 (Butler, Iludibras). 

2 Gardiner, 543-544. 



BATTLE OF MARSTON MOOR. 1644 359 

329. Oliver Cromwell and his Ironsides. 1643. Mean- 
while the Puritan forces maintained a united front against the 
royalists. In the year of the Scotch alliance (1643), nve Puritan 
counties north and northeast of London formed The Eastern 
a union known as the Eastern Association for the Association, 
purpose of raising and providing for soldiers. Of 

this union Cromwell was the guiding spirit. He was given a 
colonel's commission and at once proceeded to raise and organize 
a regiment of cavalry that proved so efficient in battle as to 
be nicknamed the "Ironsides." In the seventeenth century 
and even later, the armies and navies were often Cromwell's 
recruited by " press-gang methods," that is, men "ironsides." 
were forced into the service, even kidnapped at times. In this 
way many vagabonds, men without employment, or friendless 
unfortunates, came into the ranks, and military efficiency was 
not much profited. It was Cromwell's plan to enlist men of 
stability, character, and substance, and to pay them for their 
services. Two years later when the New Model army was 
organized, Cromwell's ideas were applied as far as possible 
to the entire parliamentarian host. 

330. Battle of Marston Moor. 1644. A few months after 
its organization, Cromwell's "lovely company" had an oppor- 
tunity to match its training and efficiency against the valor 
and discipline of the best soldiers in the cavalier armies. The 
Scotch and the parliamentarians were besieging a royalist 
force in York. Prince Rupert hurried northward with an army 
to relieve his fellow cavaliers and succeeded in Marston Moor, 
raising the siege. He could, however, scarcely 1644 - 
return to Oxford without giving battle to the enemy who were 
still threatening York; and at Marston Moor, six miles west 
of the city, the forces met in what was perhaps the bloodiest 
battle of the war. Here the Roundhead force of horsemen 
attacked the splendid calvary of the gay prince and swept them 
off the battle field. " God made them as stubble to our swords," 
wrote Cromwell with true Puritan enthusiasm. 1 Northern 

1 Cheyney, No. 289. 



360 THE AGE OF CROMWELL 

England was now completely lost to the Stuart cause, but the 
king's forces held out for another year in the west and about 
Oxford. 

331. The New Model Army and the Battle of Naseby. 
1645. The next year parliament proceeded to organize the 
entire army along lines advocated by Cromwell. Inefficient 
soldiers were discharged ; new men, chiefly of the Puritan type, 
were enlisted or forced into the service ; the recruits were largely 
sought in the counties of the Eastern Association and were 
The New consequently the kinsmen and former neighbors 

Model. Q £ tne m en who had settled New England a decade 

earlier. This new army was also to a large extent officered by 
a new set of men, of whom many happened to be Independents. 
The New Model, as it was called, was made up largely, though 
not exclusively, of men whose religious enthusiasm was deep 
and enduring. They sang psalms, spoke at prayer meetings, 
observed the Sunday religiously, and respected the rights of 
peaceful Englishmen with respect to their persons and property. 1 
But they were also most excellent soldiers. Sir Thomas Fairfax 
was nominally in command with Oliver Cromwell as lieutenant 
general. The army was maintained for nearly twenty years, un- 
til it was disbanded in the beginning of the reign of Charles II. 

The New Model was ready in April and in June (1645) it 
completely crushed a royalist army at Naseby, 2 where Crom- 
well's cavalry again was the deciding factor. King Charles 
The battle lost more than half of his forces and his partisans 
of Naseby. realized, though the king himself did not, that the 
Stuart cause was lost. After Naseby there were no more real 
battles : the task was now to disperse the royalist forces that 
were still under arms and to seize the strongholds that were 
held by royalist garrisons. When the following spring opened, 
King Charles had no longer any forces in England. 

332. Charles Surrenders to the Scotch. 1646. For about 
a year after the battle of Naseby the luckless king wandered 

1 limes, II, 68-70; Kendall, No. 79. 

2 Bates and Coman, 321-325 (Macaulay, Naseby); Gardiner, 547-549. 



FRUITLESS NEGOTIATIONS. 1646-1648 361 

about in the vain hope that help would come from somewhere; 

but none came and one day in 1646 he left Oxford surrender f 

and rode to the Scotch army. He was with the Charles I. 

Scotch for less than a year. As he appeared to 

show no great interest in the Scotch purpose of forcing Presby- 

terianism upon the English, the disgusted leaders began to 

prepare for a return to the north. Parliament had finally 

come forward with the money that had been promised in return 

for military assistance w r hen the Solemn League The k - . g 

and Covenant was entered into, and the Scotch handed over 

had no longer any reason for remaining in England. ° par iament - 

But before returning to Scotland, they handed the king over to 

parliament. 

333. Fruitless Negotiations. 1646-1648. Now that the 

English had the king at their mercy, the problem was what to 

do with him. The vast majority of all parties were anxious 

to have Charles I resume the kingship ; but few „ ,. 

,. . , • Parliament 

were willing to risk an unconditional restoration, and the army 

For two years the greatest confusion reigned in in disa s ree - 
England. Parliament was Presbyterian and was 
unwilling to agree to religious toleration. The army was 
strongly Independent and asked freedom for all manner of wor- 
ship, though many objected to "popery and prelacy." Par- 
liament was in great fear of the New Model and was anxious 
to see it disband ; but no provision was made for the payment 
of the wages that were in arrears. The soldiers mutinied and 
the army remained intact. 

For some time both the army and parliament carried on ne- 
gotiations with the king ; but to no purpose, as Charles found 
it impossible to be truthful in dealing with his Negotiations 
subjects. 1 The officers of the army drew up a scheme with the kin s- 
of limited monarchy which they called the Heads of the Pro- 
posals, but these heads were not satisfactory either to 
the king or to parliament. Charles was now the prisoner 
of the army; for Cromwell, fearing that the king and parlia- 

1 Gardiner, 551-552. 



362 THE AGE OF CROMWELL 

merit might come to an agreement, had sent one of his officers 
to take charge of him. While Charles was actually a prisoner, 
he was deprived of nothing but his liberty : he enjoyed all 
possible comforts and was treated with all due deference. He 
even found opportunity to continue his intrigues with English 
factions and with foreign powers. 

334. The Second Civil War. 1648. The king was finally 

forced to choose between parliament and the army ; and in 

104S he appeared to favor the former: he agreed 
Civil war be- , ,. , ~ , . . - , . 

tween Presby- to establish Presbyterianism lor three years and 

terians and t0 ] ie }p SU pp ress Independence. In support of 
Independents. ^ J? ■.. , , , . 

this plan Englishmen began to take up arms in 

various parts of the kingdom ; the Scotch army invaded the 
north country, and the royalists rose in Wales. But the second 
Civil War was not of long duration : Fairfax put down the ris- 
ing in the southeast, while Cromwell crushed the Welsh revolt 
and drove the Scotch out of the kingdom. The Xew Model 
was now supreme in England, but Oliver Cromwell controlled 
the Xew Model. 

335. Pride's Purge. 1648. Voices within the army now 

began to demand the life of the king. Cromwell was anxious 

_ „ , to save Charles, but he was determined that par- 

The Presby- ^ 

terians liament should become Independent. With his 

removed from armv ne too y s . possession of the capital. On De- 

parliament. 

cember 6, 1648, Colonel Pride, acting on orders 

from Cromwell, stationed himself outside the door of the house 
of commons to "purge" parliament of Presbyterianism. One 
hundred and forty-one members were refused admission, forty- 
five of whom were placed under arrest. Fewer than a hundred 
Thelndepend- members, all Independents, remained: this was 
ent Rump. t ] ie f amous "Rump," that carried on the govern- 
ment for four years longer. 

336. Trial and Execution of Charles I. 1649. Cromwell 
still hoped to restore Charles, but the king refused to accept 
his conditions. Just before the close of the year, the Rump 
brought charges against the king for treason. A court was 



THE COMMONWEALTH: CROMWELL. 1649 363 

formed and all the forms of a trial were gone through. 1 After 
a session of nearly three weeks, the court found Execution of 
Charles Stuart guilty and sentenced him to death. Charl es I. 
On January 30, he was beheaded. On the day of his death 
the handsome, dignified, kinglike man looked more handsome 
and dignified than ever before. Charles I, like his famous 
grandmother, Mary Stuart, died like a monarch. 2 

The crowned heads of Europe heard the news of the long 
trial with amazement and horror; but no one dared to inter- 
fere. To invade England was a difficult task, and the efficiency 

of Cromwell's army was no secret. However, ~, .. 

J » The situation 

had it not been that Europe had just gone through on the 
a terrible war of thirty years, there might have Continent - 
been efforts to save Charles. But it was only three months 
since the treaty had been signed at Westphalia, and the Eng- 
lish Independents were allowed to deal with monarchy as they 
chose. 

337. The Commonwealth: Cromwell. 1649. A week after 
the king's execution, the Rump abolished the house of lords, 
which for some time had not been taken seriously, The common- 
however, as it contained only thirteen peers. . A wealtn - 
month earlier monarchy had been abolished, 3 and the estab- 
lishment of the Commonwealth was now complete. In place 
of the king a new executive was established in the form of a 
council of state composed of forty-one members, The council 
of which Oliver Cromwell, 4 who still retained his of state - 
command in the army, was a prominent member. This body 
is also memorable for employing John Milton as one of its 
secretaries. It was while the great poet was working with the 
Latin documents of this council that he lost his sight. 

As many members of the council of state were also members 
of parliament, that body was in one sense only a parliamentary 

1 Cheyney, No. 295; Gardiner, 557-560; Innes, II, 80-86. 

2 Bates and Coman, 327; Cheyney, Nos. 298-300; Kendall, Nos. 82-83; Tuell and 
Hatch, No. 49. 

3 Cheyney, No. 302. 

4 Cheyney, No. 306; Kendall, No. 84; Tuell and Hatch, Nos. 50-52. 



364 THE AGE OF CROMWELL 

committee ; but so large was the membership of the council 
and so few were the men who attended the sessions of the Rump, 
frequently fewer than fifty, that the council really controlled 
The dominant tne parliament. Oliver Cromwell, as member of 
position of both council and parliament and commander of 
the victorious New Model, soon came to dominate 
the situation. Cromwell was a masterful man, strong, ener- 
getic, and resourceful ; he could take in a situation at a glance 
and was never in doubt as to what to do next. It is probable 
that he at no time desired to become the ruler of England, but 
when circumstances forced him to undertake the task he did 
Character of not shrink from it. Cromwell was a Puritan, but 
Cromwell. j^ was not a fanatic ; he was stern and unrelent- 
ing, but he was also tolerant of the views of others and made 
no attempt to force his own religious opinions on those who 
disagreed with him. 

338. Cromwell in Ireland and Scotland. 1 A sham repub- 
lic like the Commonwealth of 1 649-1 653 could satisfy only the 
merest fragment of the English nation ; but behind it stood the 
Dangers to terrible army, and England was weary of warfare ; 
the republic, there were, therefore, no uprisings. But outside 
the kingdom the dangers were many and serious : especially 
threatening was the situation in Ireland and Scotland and the 
attitude of the Dutch. On the death of Charles I, the crown, 
according to royalist ideas, went to the Prince of Wales, who 
was now spoken of as Charles II. The young 
prince was in exile among the Dutch when he 
began his "reign," but he had partisans in Ireland and was 
actually accepted by the Scotch as king the next year. If he 
were allowed to establish himself as king of Ireland and Scot- 
land, it would be only a question of time as to when he 
would come with armies behind him to claim the English 
crown. 

To prevent this Cromwell was sent to Ireland with a strong 
force, and by the terrible massacres of Drogheda 2 and Wex- 

1 Gardiner, 562-563. 2 Inncs, II, 86-93. 



WAR WITH THE DUTCH. 1652-1653 365 

ford and by the devastation of Munster he struck terror into 
the hearts of the Irish and crushed the revolt Cromwell in 
which had now lasted for eight years. Leaving Ireland - 
the pacification of the country to his lieutenants, he returned 
to England and prepared to begin operations against the Scotch 
(1650). At Dunbar 1 he met his old comrade David Leslie 
who had commanded the Scotch auxiliaries at Marston Moor. 
Leslie did not wish to fight Cromwell, but the The battle 
preachers of the kirk forced a battle. The Scotch of D ™bar. 
army was carefully purged of all who were suspected of being 
lukewarm in religious matters, until "only ministers' sons, 
clerks, and such other sanctified creatures, who hardly ever saw 
or heard of any sword but that of the spirit" remained to fight. 
In the battle the next morning the English saints completely 
defeated the sanctified Scotchmen. Leslie lost half of his army. 
The spirit of the Scotch was not crushed. They crowned 
the profligate Charles, raised another army, and in the cam- 
paign that followed carried the war into England. 

£v , <■ t-, 1 1 t f Cromwell's 

Down the west coast of England the royalist army victory at 

marched with Cromwell in hot pursuit. At Wor- Worcester, 
cester the Scotch forces were completely destroyed. 
Leslie was taken prisoner, but Charles escaped and wandered 
off to France. Worcester was Cromwell's last and greatest 
victory, his "crowning mercy," as he called it. The indepen- 
dence of Scotland was lost: for nine years it was ruled by 
England. 

339. War with the Dutch. 1652-1653. The following 
year war broke out with the Dutch. This was a war for com- 
mercial supremacy. The Dutch had built up a commerce of 
vast dimensions and of this the English insisted on Quarrel with 
having a large share. The Dutch were not eager the Dutch - 
to accept the English terms, and in a moment of irritation the 
Rump parliament passed a Navigation Act which came to be 
important for more than a century. This act provided (1) 
that European goods should be brought to England in English 

1 Times, II , 101-106. 



366 THE AGE OF CROMWELL 

(or English colonial) ships, or in ships of the country produc- 
Navigation ing the goods : that is, Spanish goods should be 
Acts - brought to London or Bristol in English or Spanish 

ships; only Dutch goods could be brought in Dutch ships; (2) 
goods from America, Asia, and Africa could come in English 
ships only; (3) the English fisheries were to be reserved to 
English ships. This cut deeply into Dutch commerce, as the 
act applied to the English colonies as well as to Britain. And 
the inevitable result was war. 

Parliament had no naval commander worthy of the name, 
but one was discovered in Robert Blake, who had been ap- 
pointed general of the sea in 1649. Admiral Blake probably 
did more than any other man in history to make England su- 
Admiral preme on the ocean. Like Oliver Cromwell he 

Robert Blake. ^ad n0 experience in the particular line of warfare 
in which he was to excel ; but he possessed genius for naval 
warfare and ranks with the greatest captains of English history. 
The war was fought chiefly in the Channel and continued for a 
little more than a year. It will be seen that Dutch vessels 
coming from the south or west are compelled to sail up the 
Channel or make the long and dangerous journey around Brit- 
ain. The Dutch fought to keep the Channel open, the English 
Defeat of to keep it closed. After a series of engagements 

the Dutch. ^ e D u txh navy was almost entirely ruined and 
when peace came the Dutch agreed to recognize the supremacy 
of England in British waters by saluting the English flag. But 
what was more important, after June, 1653, England was the 
mistress of the seas. 

340. The Rump Parliament Dissolved. 1653. While 
Blake was destroying the commercial supremacy of the Dutch, 
Cromwell was carrying on a conflict with the Rump. This 
peculiar group had become more and more ridiculous in the eyes 
of Englishmen. It was only the merest fragment of a parlia- 
The Rump ment chosen thirteen years before under vastly 
dissolved. different conditions ; and the feeling was general 

that it ought to yield to a new parliament. Among those who 



THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT 367 

insisted that the Rump should retire was Cromwell. Vane 
favored holding elections in the counties and boroughs that 
were not represented ; but he wished the members already 
holding seats to continue indefinitely as members. The idea 
of a parliament having life members did not appeal to Crom- 
well. On April 20, 1653, while parliament was considering 
Vane's plan, Cromwell, who was present, suddenly arose, 
scolded the house in somewhat undignified language, and or- 
dered the members out of the room. "Come, come, sir; I 
will put an end to your prating." His soldiers began to file in 
and the members departed. 1 The Independent army had thus 
put an end to the Independent parliament that it had created 
by Pride's purge. The council of state had also been dissolved, 
and for some months England did not even have the pretense 
of constitutional government. 

341. The Little Parliament; the Instrument of Govern- 
ment. 1653. The Protectorate. Cromwell was now the self- 
appointed dictator of the commonwealth, his Cromwell as 
power resting on the army. He felt, however, the dictator, 
need of some sort of a parliament, but did not dare 
to trust the English electorate. Finally a sham parliament was 
formed consisting of one hundred and forty members appointed 
by Cromwell himself from lists of nominees made out by the In- 
dependent clergymen of the commonwealth. 2 A small council 
of state made up chiefly of army officers was chosen to assist 
the dictator. But the government of soldiers and saints also 
failed. In December this Little Parliament was induced to 
surrender its authority into the hands of the die- The Little 
tator and adjourn. One of the officers of the army, Parliament. 
General Lambert, now came forward with a written constitu- 
tion, the Instrument of Government, which Crom- The Instru _ 
well accepted and tried to put into effect without ment of Gov- 
consulting the English people. The instrument 
consolidated all the three British kingdoms and established a 

1 Cheyney, No. 305; Kendall, No. 85; Robinson, No. 143. 

2 Gardiner, 566-568. 



368 THE AGE OF CROMWELL 

republic with a parliament of one house and a president called 
the Protector of the Commonwealth. 1 Between protectorate 
and kingship the difference was very slight. Cromwell held 
this presidency for life ; he lived in Whitehall palace and also 
had the use of the other royal palaces ; his household was 
elaborate and extensive ; he had a large and splendid guard. 
It was Cromwell's hope and purpose to establish the govern- 
ment of the commonwealth on a secure and satisfactory basis ; 
but in this he failed. Parliament met twice during the period 
of the Protectorate ; but the members very soon quarreled 
with the Protector and Cromwell dismissed them. 

342. Cromwell's Religious Policy. Oliver Cromwell in- 
sisted on two things that parliament was loath to grant : con- 
trol of the army and a large measure of toleration in religious 
matters. The Instrument granted freedom of worship to all 
forms of Puritanism, but not to Anglicans or Catholics. Ex- 
cept that they were regularly fined as of old for refusing to 
attend Protestant worship, the Catholics found little to com- 
plain of while Cromwell ruled. The Tews, too, 
The English F , ■ , 

church under were now openly tolerated : they were even al- 

the common- lowed to build synagogues. In the English church 
wealth. ,. ^ . . i , " mi i 

an extraordinary situation ruled. I he houses of 

worship were still standing, and it was the will of the govern- 
ment that these should be used. Many pulpits were vacant, 
however, and to get these supplied with preachers of the proper 
sort, Cromwell's government appointed a commission of " triers" 
who were to examine candidates. The triers were not to in- 
vestigate into the beliefs of the future pastors any further than 
to determine whether they were of the Puritan type ; the im- 
portant thing was to make sure that they were godly men and 
able to preach. Men of all shades of belief came to be preach- 
The "sects" m § m ^ e cnurc hes that Laud had guarded so jeal- 
in control of ously : Baptists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, 
e pu pi s. ant j men o £ other sects, — even Anglicans were 
left undisturbed in their pulpits for a time. But in 1655 

1 Gardiner, 568-570. 



WAR WITH SPAIN: THE FRENCH ALLIANCE 369 



it was ordained that no Anglican clergyman was to continue 
preaching in an English church. For three years the sec- 
tarians were in complete possession ; all general church gov- 
ernment virtually disappeared. 

343. War with Spain: the French Alliance. 1655-1656. 
Though Oliver Cromwell's domestic policy may be regarded as 
a failure, in his dealings with foreign nations he Blake in 
was eminently successful. He sent Admiral Blake the Medi- 
into the Mediterranean waters to teach the Bar- 

bary pirates of Tunis 
and Algiers a long needed 
lesson, a task that the 
Admiral carried out in 
his usual thorough 
fashion. For the Dutch 
as commercial rivals and 
recent enemies, Crom- 
well could have no par- 
ticular friendship ; but 
he managed to maintain 
peaceful relations with 
the Dutch Republic 
throughout his adminis- 
tration. At first he was 
inclined to seek an alli- 
ance with 
the Span- 
iards ; but his terms in- 
cluded freedom for the 
English merchants to trade in Spanish America and freedom of 
worship for all Englishmen in Spanish dominions. However, as 
the Spaniards objected to having "their master's two eyes put 
out," the negotiations led to open war. Cromwell now trans- 
ferred his attentions to France, the government of which was 
less intolerant. For a generation longer the foreign policy of 
England meant what it did in Cromwell's day : an alliance 




Cromwell and 
the Dutch. 



Admiral Robert Blake 



37° 



THE AGE OF CROMWELL 



with France but strained relations with Spain and the Dutch 
Republic. 

In the war with Spain Blake won great victories; at one 
time he captured the Spanish treasure fleet with gold and silver 
from the American Indies, and brought the great hoard to Eng- 
land where it was greatly needed. He also discovered the im- 
portance of Gibraltar, which the English seized half a century 
later. But the most important event of the war was an expe- 
dition to the West Indies sent for the purpose of seizing the 
rich island of San Domingo. The fleet was corn- 
seizes manded by Admiral Penn, the father of the founder 
Jamaica. f Pennsylvania. In its main purpose the ven- 
ture failed ; but the admiral succeeded in taking 
Jamaica, an island which at the time was considered as of 
doubtful value, but after some years of development became 
an important part of the British Empire and the center of a 
lucrative sugar industry. 

344. Cromwell and the Colonies. With respect to the 
colonies Cromwell believed in as little interference as possible ; 

English b ut tn ^ s ^ oes n °t mean that tne empire was neg- 

coionial lected. In Cromwell's day there were a few Eng- 

pos ;ssions. j.^ s t a tions in India and on the Guinea coast in 
western Africa, which were important centers for the trade in 
tropical products. In the development of the East Indian 
trade and stations Cromwell showed considerable interest. 
But actual colonies existed in North America only. In the 
West Indies, besides Jamaica, England had Barbados and 
several other islands in the Antilles group ; on the mainland she 
had Virginia and Maryland and the five colonies of New Eng- 
land. There was also a settlement on the Bermudas. In 1652 
during the war with the Dutch, the commonwealth parliament 

„ ,. appointed a board of commissioners to control these 

Parliamentary rr 

interference new settlements. As New England was intensely 

in colonial Puritan, this board saw no reason for much inter- 
affairs. 

ference there, though it did make an unsuccessful 

effort to deprive Massachusetts of its royal charter. To the 



SUMMARY 371 

two southern colonies a frigate was sent, and the governments 
of both Virginia and Maryland were placed in the hands of 
Puritan officials. 

The material growth of the English colonies during the Crom- 
wellian period was very great. Cavaliers who found the Puri- 
tan regime distasteful emigrated to Virginia by Colonial 
thousands. In the twenty years following the growth- 
execution of King Charles, the population of Virginia increased 
from 15,000 to 40,000. After the second civil war large num- 
bers of the prisoners of war were shipped to Barbados. The 
battle of Worcester added about a thousand to the population 
of New England. Jamaica grew very slowly at first ; but 
Cromwell took a great interest in the island, and the rapidly 
growing population of the Antilles gave a surplus that could be 
used in its development. 

345. The Rule of Cromwell. 1 Cromwell gave England a 
strong and efficient government ; but it was not according to 
the taste of his subjects. He had violated too many English 
traditions to gain popularity for himself and his rule, and his 
government grew more hated every day. The Cromwell and 
royalists looked upon him as a mere upstart and the nation - 
usurper. The republicans regarded him as a monarch in dis- 
guise, as a traitor to the principles of Puritanism. The peers 
were eager to resume their place in the government. Scotland 
and Ireland disliked being incorporated with England. Out of 
these discordant elements nothing permanent and satisfactory 
could be shaped; and the scheme that was to have been only 
temporary seemed about to become permanent. In February, 
1658, Cromwell dismissed his last parliament, the session of 
which had degenerated into a quarrel. Seven months later the 
great Protector died. 2 

346. Summary. The first civil war was a long conflict 
between the royalists and the parliamentarians, and for a time 
it looked as if the king would win. Then came the league 
with Scotland and the organization of the New Model army 

1 Bates and Coman, 337-339 (Thornbury). 2 Kendall, No. 89; Gardiner, 574. 



372 THE AGE OF CROMWELL 

with Oliver Cromwell as chief ; and on the fields of Marston 
The civil Moor and Naseby the cause of personal monarchy 

wars. was decisively defeated. The second civil war was 

fought within the parliamentarian party as a conflict between 
the Presbyterians and the Independents. The Presbyterians 
wished to restore monarchy and reorganize the Church on a 
Presbyterian basis, as had been promised in the Solemn League 
and Covenant; the Independents, on the other hand, wanted 
no state church and were coming to hold republican ideas in 
The com- government. A commonwealth was established 

monweaith. a f ter tne execution of the king, and all the British 
Isles were united into one state ; but these changes proved 
temporary only. There were, however, certain permanent re- 
sults. Puritanism broke up into sects, nearly all of which have 
Development been permanent and have grown strong in the New 
of churches. World. English Presbyterianism built a platform 
for itself in the Westminster Confession. England humbled 
the naval power of the Netherlands as it once had ruined that 
of Spain, and from the time of Cromwell Britain has been the 
Growth of mistress of the seas. And finally, the British em- 
empire. pj re was strengthened by the acquisition of Ja- 

maica and by renewed emigration to the American colonies. 

REFERENCES 

Preparations for civil war. — Cross, History of England 486-490; 
Fletcher, Introductory History of England, I, ii, 357-369; Oman, History of 
England, 380-386; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 555-558. 

The New Model army. — Fletcher, I, ii, 400-403; Harrison, Cromwell, 
79-88; Innes, History of England, 433-437; Morley, Oliver Cromwell, 163-175. 

The crisis of 1646-1647. — Cross, 499-505; Firth, Cromwell, c. ix; 
Fletcher, I, ii, 411-426; Gardiner, Student's History of England, 550-556; 
Harrison, c. vi; Morley, 209-232; Oman, 396-399. 

The trial and execution of Charles I. — Beard, Introduction to the Eng- 
lish Historians, 373-380 (Gardiner); Firth, c. xi; Fletcher, I, ii, 431-436; Innes, 
438-444; Morley, 262-273; Ransome, 583-585. 

The church during the civil war. — Firth, c. viii. 

The rule of the Rump. — Fletcher, I, ii, 452-462; Innes, 450-454; Mor- 



REFERENCES 373 

ley, 277-285; Oman, 406-410; Ransome, 586-588, 594-598; Tout, Advanced 
History of Great Britain, 462-466. 

Cromwell in Ireland and Scotland. — Firth, cc. xiii-xiv; P'letcher, I, 
ii, 443-451; Harrison, cc. viii-ix; Innes, 445-449; Morley, 286-317; Ransome, 
588-592. 

Cromwell and the Rump (1653). — Beard, 381-390 (Morley); Firth, c. 
xv ; Morley, 329-341. 

The protectorate. — Cross, 516-523; Firth, c. xvi; Gardiner, 568-574; 
Harrison, c. xi; Innes, 454-462; Oman, 412-416; Ransome, 599-608. 

Cromwell's foreign policy. — Firth, c. xviii; Fletcher, I, ii, 475-484; 
Harrison, c. xiii; Morley, 434-448. 

Cromwell's colonial policy. — Firth, c. xix. 

Oliver Cromwell. — Firth, c. xxii; Morley, 426-435. 



CHAPTER XVII 
THE STUART RESTORATION 

347. The End of the Commonwealth. 1658-1659. 1 With 
the death of Cromwell the republic perished. The rule of the 
great Oliver had, indeed, been that of a monarch ; but he seems 
honestly to have sought some form of a commonwealth that 
would secure political rights and civil liberties, and at the same 
Richard time prove strong and efficient. At his death he 
Cromwell. designated his son Richard as his successor; but 
the new protector was , weak and incompetent ; after a few 
months of trouble with the army and the extreme republicans, 
he was forced to resign (May, 1659). 

348. The Restoration of the Stuart Dynasty. 2 For nearly 
a year the political condition in England was scarcely better 
than anarchy. Fragments of the Long Parliament tried at 
The anarchy, intervals to carry on the government, but suffered 
1559. constant interference from the officers of Crom- 
well's New Model army. The army, however, was divided : 
General Lambert in England still believed in the possibility of 
republican rule ; while General Monk, to whom Cromwell had 
given the command of the forces in Scotland, had become con- 
vinced that his interference was necessary to end the anarchy. 
Whether he had already concluded in the autumn of 1659 that 
the Stuart dynasty must be restored may be doubted ; but he 
General soon realized that no other course was possible. 
Monk. j n December he began to move his army south- 
ward ; in January he crossed the border and proceeded toward 
London. For a time civil war seemed probable, but Lam- 
bert's resistance melted away. At Westminster Monk found 

1 Robinson, No. 144. 2 Cheyney, No. 307. 

374 



CHARLES II 



375 



the Rump Parliament in session ; he gave it recognition but 
forced it to readmit the Presbyterian members who had been ex- 
cluded by Pride's purge. 
Soon afterward the Long 
Parliament came to an 
end. 

Before disbanding, the 
Long Parliament ordered 
the electionof a new 
body, which is known as 
the Convention Parlia- 
ment, from The 

the fact that Convention 

• . , Parliament, 

it was not 

summoned by the king. 
A few days after the 
meeting of this body, it 
received a message from 
Charles Stuart known as 
the Declaration of Breda; 
in this he promised to 
forgive the past, to over- 
look religious differences, to pay Cromwell's soldiers in full, and 
to leave all in peaceful enjoyment of their prop- TheDeciara- 
erty. These promises were, however, to be subject tl0n of Breda - 
to the pleasure of parliament and were carried out in part only. 
The Convention received the Declaration with enthusiasm and 
on the same day resolved that " according to the ancient and 
fundamental laws of this kingdom the government is and ought 
to be by King, Lords, and Commons." On the 25th of May 
Charles landed at Dover; four days later he was in London. 1 
349. Charles II. 2 Charles entered London on his thirtieth 
birthday. For nearly ten years he had traveled abroad, de- 
pendent on his friends in France or on his relatives in Holland 

1 Cheyney, No. 310; Innes, II, 113-115; Kendall, No. 90. 

2 Robinson, No. 145; Tuell and Hatch, No. 53 (Green); Cheyney, No. 311. 




General Monk 



376 



THE STUART RESTORATION 



for shelter and subsistence. He had, therefore, learned a lesson 
which his father had never learned : that a king, if he wishes to 
live in comfort, must regard, to some extent at least, the wishes 
of his subjects. Therefore there was no danger .of an immedi- 
ate repetition of the difficulties of his father's reign ; for no 

matter what happened, the second Charles was 
Charles II. . ri .. . „ _, 

determined not to resume his travels. But 

England soon learned that good government was not to be 

expected from a man 
like Charles II: the 
dark, handsome man 
who landed in the 
spring of 1660 was able 
and intelligent ; but he 
was also lazy, extrava- 
gant, and pleasure-lov- 
ing. To a large section 
of the English people 
the new king was a bit- 
ter disappointment. 

350. Clarendon. 
Charles' first confiden- 
tial minister was Claren- 
don, his lord chancellor, 
who for seven years di- 
rected the policies 
of England. Edward 
Hyde, created earl of 
Clarendon not long after 
the restoration, was a lawyer of considerable abilities, and a 
Edward Hyde man °^ sterling character. 1 He was devoted to 
Charles, whom he had followed into exile. But 
he possessed no real genius for statesmanship ; no 
marked originality appears in his policies. His purpose was to 
restore not only the dynasty but the entire historic constitution 

1 Review sees. 316, 319. 




Charles II 
After a portrait by Sir Peter Lely. 



earl of 
Clarendon 



THE RESTORATION SETTLEMENT 



377 



including the church. As the innovations of Charles I and 
Laud were not parts of the traditional scheme of government, 
they were given no consideration. LT n fortunately, Clarendon 
was unable to realize the 
vast changes that had come 
over England during the 
generation that had just 
passed. In his devotion to 
the past he was also blind 
to the value of some of 
Cromwell's constitutional 
changes, such as the union 
of the islands into one 
state, the reform of the 
franchise, and the improve- 
ments in parliamentary rep- 
resentation: Clarendon 
wanted everything to be 
just as it had been before 
the civil war. 

351. The Restoration 
Settlement. Meanwhile, 
the Convention proceeded 
to carry out the provisions 

of Charles' Declaration. It was a moderate body, largely 
composed of Presbyterians, and in many respects it legislated 
wisely. The army, with the exception of two regiments, was 
paid and disbanded. An Act of Indemnity w r as The Act of 
passed extending pardon to all the political offend- Indemm ty- 
ers of the past ; but to this a long list of exceptions was added 
comprising the judges who had tried and condemned Charles I 
and a few others. Some of these suffered death ; l p ro bi em of 
some were imprisoned; and others sought refuge forfeited 
beyond the seas. The question of the forfeited 
lands was a difficult one ; but the actual possessor was usually 

1 Innes, II, 115-116; Robinson, No. 146. 




Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon 
After a painting by Gerard Soest. 



378 



THE STUART RESTORATION 



left in possession, and a few only of the dispossessed royalists 
regained control of the estates that they had lost during the 
revolution. The Convention also abolished feudalism by doing 
away with the old feudal rights and dues. As in this way the 
king lost a considerable amount of revenue, the Convention 
granted him an additional income in the form of a tax on beer. 
It was believed that from the sources available the royal income 
would amount to about £1,200,000; but this amount the king 
was never able to collect. To obtain additional revenues 
Charles II would be compelled to call parliament. 1 

352. The Restoration of the Church: the Clarendon 
Code. 2 On the church question the Convention reached no 
conclusion. In December Charles dissolved the Convention 
and ordered new elections. The electors in their eagerness to 
show their loyalty chose new members of an extreme loyalistic 
type. Few Presbyterians kept their seats. The new so-called 
The Cavalier Cavalier Parliament 3 was intensely Anglican. 
Parliament. During the previous twenty years there had been 
much confusion in the English church ; its organization had 
fallen to pieces ; its membership had largely passed over to the 
"sects." As these bodies all dissented from Anglican practices 
and beliefs, their followers came to be known as Dissenters; 
as they refused to conform to the Prayer Book in church worship, 
they were also called Non-conformists. 

By a series of acts called the Clarendon Code, though Clar- 
endon probably did not wholly approve of the measures, the 
Cavalier Parliament restored the Anglican church to power and 
deprived the dissenters of the freedom of worship that Charles 
had promised and also to a large extent of political rights. 
The restoration had in large measure been accomplished by the 
The Corpora- Presbyterians ; but now these very men were 
tion Act. 1661. mac i e ineligible to the municipal offices, for by the 
Corporation Act only such persons as partook of the communion 
in the Anglican church were allowed to share in municipal 



1 Innes, Industrial Development, 191. 

2 Gardiner, 583-586, 588, 590. 



3 Masterman, 134-136. 






THE RESTORATION IN THE COLONIES 379 

government. It was also found that among the priests who 
officiated in the churches there were many who deviated in 
preaching and ceremonial from the Anglican The Act f 
standards. By an Act of Uniformity these were Uniformity, 
given the choice between conforming and resigning. 1662 * 
About 2000 resigned their livings rather than conform. But 
these non-conformists continued to preach in homes and else- 
where. Parliament, therefore, passed the Con- xheConven- 
venticle Act which limited the attendance at such tide Act. 
services to five in addition to the members of the 
household where the meetings were held. The strength of the 
dissenters lay in the towns, and there this act was enforced 
with difficulty. A law called the Five Mile Act The Five Mile 
was accordingly passed which forbade a non- Act - 1665 - 
conformist preacher to settle nearer than five miles to any 
corporate town ; he was also forbidden to make teaching or 
preaching his profession. 1 It was hoped that the lack of 
teachers and spiritual advisers would in time drive all the 
dissenters back into the Anglican churches. 

353. The Restoration in the Colonies. One result of the 
Clarendon Code was to furnish large additions to the colonial 
population. Persecution was endured for some years ; 2 but 
it soon became wearisome, and an exodus of dis- Migration of 
satisfied Englishmen, in some respects comparable the dlssent ers. 
to the great Puritan migration, began, this time chiefly to new 
settlements. It will be remembered that during the common- 
wealth period England's possessions in the New World consisted 
of three groups : islands in the West Indies, the southern col- 
onies of Maryland and Virginia, and New England. 3 Of 
these New England alone had shown much sympathy with the 
Revolution. In the other colonies the restoration merely 
meant a speedy return to the old regime. 

During the twenty years of the rebellion and the republic, 
New England had displayed a spirit of independence that the 
government could not overlook. A confederation had been 

1 Kendall, No. 92. 2 Cheyney, No. 313. 3 Review sec. 344. 



380 THE STUART RESTORATION 

formed (1643) 5 money had been coined; laws had been made 
and enforced against certain forms of dissent that were un- 
known to English legislation. Cromwell had 
New England 7 . 

during the interfered very little in the affairs of New England ; 

common- consequently, these colonies had come to look on 

wealth period. . 

the tie that bound them to the mother country as 

an exceedingly frail one. But as soon as the news of the 
restoration reached the New World, the American Puritans 
began to consider the question of recognizing the new mon- 
arch. In time all the colonies professed their loyalty, though 
Massachusetts showed some reluctance. In return for their 
obedience Charles granted liberal charters to Connecticut 
and Rhode Island ; but the colony of New Haven, as a 
punishment for harboring regicides, lost its identity and was 
merged with Connecticut. 

354. Colonial Expansion. New settlements were also 
formed. To a group of his friends, the chief of whom were 
Clarendon, Albemarle (Monk), Shaftesbury, and Governor 
Berkeley of Virginia, the king gave a large tract of land south of 
The Virginia, which in the king's honor was called 

Carolmas. Carolina. More important territorial additions 
were made in the north. Between New England and the South 
lay the Dutch colony of New Netherland ; it was necessary for 
the safety of the English settlements that this territory should 
be acquired. Accordingly, while England and the Netherlands 
New York. were still nominally at peace, Charles sent Colonel 
1664. Nicholls with a fleet to seize the region (1664). 1 

The proprietorship was given to the king's brother, James, 
duke of York, in whose honor the colony was named New York. 
Later a part of the duke's grant lying between the Hudson and 
the Delaware River was formed into the colony of New Jersey. 
New Jersey. Toward the close of the reign the king's great 
Pennsylvania, friend William Penn received a large grant on the 
west side of the Delaware, which was erected into 
the colony of Pennsylvania (1681). By the close of the reign 

1 Cheyney, No. 315. 



COMMERCIAL EXPANSION 381 

of Charles II, all the original Thirteen Colonies had been 
founded with the single exception of Georgia. 

It is to be noted that the great period of interest in the col- 
onies is contemporary with the legislation against dissent. It 
is an interesting fact that the proprietary charter of Carolina 
(which was given by a government that supported the Clar- 
endon Code) provided for religious toleration. In a few years 
dissenters came in large numbers to Carolina, to Dissent in the 
New York, and to the new settlements in New new colonies. 
Jersey. The Quaker exodus to the banks of the Delaware is 
well known. The governmental policy of enforcing uniform- 
ity in England while allowing toleration in the colonies proved 
to be a short-sighted one : it not only drove a dissatisfied 
element to America, but it also conveyed the idea that Eng- 
lish laws were for England only. Thus this policy came to 
be one of the leading causes of the American revolt a century 
later. 

355. Commercial Expansion. The interest that the Stuart 
government showed in the colonies was closely allied with an 
interest in commerce An increased trade would bring in a 
larger customs revenue and consequently increase the income 
of the crown and reduce the king's dependence on parliament. 
The field of English commerce was extended by the new colonial 
foundations and by the acquisition of Tangier and Interest j n 
the island of Bombay which came to England as trade and 
the dowry of the Portuguese princess Catherine of 
Braganza, who became queen of England in 1662. The govern- 
ment also strove to bring the English trade into English hands. 
At this time the commercial rivals of the English were the 
Dutch : Dutch merchant vessels sailed all the seas and carried 
merchandise to and from all the world's great ports. 

To deprive Holland of her monopoly so far as the English 
trade was concerned, Cromwell's government had secured the 
passage of a Navigation Act, which provided that Navigation 
merchandise coming to England must be brought Acts - 
in English ships or in the ships of the country that pro- 



382 THE STUART RESTORATION 

duced the merchandise. There were some exceptions to this, 
but in general it resulted in limiting the Dutch trade with Eng- 
land. This law was re-enacted in the beginning of the new 
reign, and another was added requiring certain colonial pro- 
ducts to be taken to England before they might be shipped 
to a foreign country. 1 

These acts, for which Clarendon was largely responsible, 
were of great importance to the English merchants and ship 
owners. The English shippers were now reasonably sure of 
a certain amount of trade, as the Dutch could no longer under- 
bid them. There came thus a demand for ships, a demand 

which was felt in the various lines of industry 
Effect of , .111 • 1 1 . 

these acts that provided the necessary materials and equip- 
on English ment. As England came to have a practical 

commerce. . 

monopoly of the colonial trade, English manu- 
factures grew, since the colonial produce consisted largely of 
raw materials. Later England was tempted to make this 
condition permanent by placing unreasonable restrictions on 
colonial manufactures. 

356. Foreign Policy of Charles and Clarendon. Two 
facts determined the foreign policy of the reign : the ambition 
for a larger commerce and the hostility toward Roman Cathol- 
icism. During the first half of the reign the former principle 
was the controlling one ; not till the court began to show a 
suspicious inclination to favor Catholicism did the subject of 
Hostility religion become of importance in the framing of 
toward the foreign policies. In his attitude toward foreign 

powers Clarendon mainly followed up the ideas 
of Cromwell, — hostility to the Dutch as commercial rivals, and 
friendship for France. This policy was agreeable to Charles, 
who disliked the Dutch for keeping his relatives of the Orange 
family out of power, and looked with especial favor on the ideas 
and methods of Louis XIV of France. 

357. The Cabal; the Triple Alliance. This policy 
brought on a war with the Dutch in which England was only 

1 Inncs, Industrial Development, 170-174; review sec. 33Q. 



THE SECRET TREATY OF DOVER. 1670 383 

moderately successful. 1 The disasters of this war added to 
Clarendon's growing unpopularity proved too much Fall of 
for the chancellor, and the faithful minister was Clarendon, 
forced to surrender his office and go into exile. 2 Three years 
later we find the king consulting not one chief counselor but 
a group of five called the Cabal, of which Anthony Ashley 
Cooper, the earl of Shaftesbury, was the most The Cabal 
conspicuous member. With the Cabal the re- 
ligious question becomes the important factor in foreign policy. 
Charles was favorable to the cause of toleration which he wished 
to extend to his Roman Catholic subjects; his queen was a 
Catholic; his brother James professed Catholicism and later 
married as his second wife an Italian princess, who came to 
England with the hope of doing something for those of her 
own faith. The Anglicans of the Cavalier Parliament began 
to suspect the court of treachery toward the Risinghost u- 
English church. At the same time the English ity toward 
nation was transferring its friendship from Catholic 
France to Protestant Holland. Europe was beginning to realize 
that its greatest enemy was Louis XIV, whose ambitions in- 
volved the extension of French authority over all the territory 
west of the Rhine. During the Dutch war France The Triple 
had not shown the expected friendship ; and the ^^ nce - 
treaty with the Dutch was followed by the Triple Alliance of 
England, Sweden, and Holland against Louis XIV (1668). 

358. The Secret Treaty of Dover. 1670. The Triple 
Alliance was not according to Charles' ideas. He was at this 
time planning to transform the kingdom into an absolute 
monarchy and to introduce a modified form of The treaty of 

the Catholic church. To accomplish this purpose Dover with 

, . trance. lbiu. 

he needed the assistance of Louis and made an 

agreement with him, the Secret Treaty of Dover, according 

to which, in return for French money and soldiers, he was to 

assist in the partition of the Netherlands. Two years later 

Louis invaded the Netherlands ; but the Dutch flooded their 

1 Kendall, No. 94; Innes, II, 126-129. 2 Gardiner, 593-594- 



384 THE STUART RESTORATION 

country and checked his advance. William of Orange, Charles' 
William of own nephew, was placed in charge of the govern- 
Orange. ment. A little later the new Dutch leader suc- 

ceeded in detaching England from the French alliance. 

359. Anti-Catholic Movements : the Test Act. 1673. 
In breaking up this alliance, William of Orange was assisted 
by a strong anti-Catholic movement that had arisen in England. 
The same year that saw the beginning of the last Dutch war 
The Deciara- a ^ so saw an e ^ or ^ on the king's part to suspend the 
tion of Clarendon Code by a royal Declaration of In- 

u gence. diligence. Early in the next year parliament met 

and forced him to withdraw the. declaration. This was followed 

by the famous Test Act which applied the principle of the 

Corporation Act to the offices of the state. It provided that 

no person should hold office under the crown who did not par- 

„,, „, take of the communion according to the rites of 

The Test Act. . to 

the English church. This forced the Catholics 

out of the high offices, which was the intent of the act. 1 James 

resigned his position as high admiral ; two members of the Cabal 

were forced to surrender their ministerial offices. For a century 

and a half this peculiar law remained on the statute books of 

England. 

360. Danby's Administration. 1673-1678. Whigs and 
Tories. 2 The Test Act broke up the Cabal. For the next 

five years the earl of Danby held the reins of gov- 
ernment. Danby was a politician of low prin- 
ciples, always servile to the king. In his domestic policies 
he adopted the ideas of Clarendon : a strong kingship and church 
uniformity ; but in foreign affairs he preferred the friendship 
of Holland to that of France. 

During the years of Danby's administration, the great historic 
parties of modern England saw their origin. The Cabal had 
stood with Charles for toleration ; Danby enforced the ideas of 
the Clarendon Code. Accordingly, the Anglicans of the Laud- 
ian type gathered around the chief minister ; while the more 

1 Bates and Coman, 341-344 (Doyle). 2 Masterman, 1 sQ-144. 



DANBY'S ADMINISTRATION. 1673-1078 



385 



liberal Anglicans, the so-called low churchmen, who did not 
insist so strongly on uniformity of worship, fol- 
lowed the lead of Shaftesbury, who had been one 

of Charles II's chief advis- 
ers during the period of the 
Cabal. To this group the 
dissenters naturally at- 
tached themselves. As an 
opposition party, Shaftes- 
bury's followers soon came 
into collision with the royal 
prerogative, and conse- 
quently attracted a power- 
ful element in the house of 
lords who desired to trans- 
fer the political power from 
the crown to the aristocracy. 
In time this group came to 

be known as 

The Whigs. 

Whigs, while 
those who accepted the 
ideas of Clarendon and 
Danby were nicknamed 
Tories. The Whigs favored 




Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of 
Shaftesbury 

After a painting by Sir Peter Lely. 



the dissenters, the mercantile interests, and the pretentions of 
the nobility in opposition to the royal prerogative. The 
Tories, on the other hand, insisted on the rights of Thg Tories 
the crown and of the Anglican church ; they had 
little interest in commerce but guarded jealously all the rights 
and privileges of the landlord class. 

Soon the matter of foreign policy came to be confused with 
the religious issue. Secretly Charles continued to favor France. 
But Danby leaned toward a Dutch alliance and arranged the 
marriage of the princess Mary of York, who after her father 
James was next in succession to the English throne, to William 
of Orange, Louis' great enemy. Disgusted with the new situa- 



386 THE STUART RESTORATION 

tion, Louis revealed his secret intrigues with the English gov- 
ernment. As the king can do no wrong, the chief minister was 
End of the made to suffer. Danby was driven from power 
Cavalier and threatened with impeachment. To save his 

minister Charles dissolved parliament ; after having 
enjoyed legislative power for a period of seventeen years, the 
Cavalier Parliament, once so intensely loyal to the king, found 
itself dismissed because of opposition to the crown and the 
government. 

361. The Popish Plot; the Exclusion Bill. 1678. 1 The 
situation was further intensified by the revelation of an alleged 
plot on the part of the Jesuits to assassinate Charles and place 
the Catholic James on the throne. During the winter months 
of 1678 and 1679 a number of innocent Catholics were tried 
The "Popish for complicity in imaginary plots and convicted. 
plot -" Charles, who knew the actual plans of the Catholics, 

might have saved the victims by speaking the proper word ; 
but to do so would have amounted to a confession of conspiring 
against the Anglican church. While the panic and the perse- 
cution were still on, a new parliament was elected. Shaftesbury 
and the Whigs with an excellent organization and large cam- 
The Habeas paign funds easily carried the day. When parlia- 
Corpus Act. ment met, two leading measures were presented : 
a habeas corpus bill 2 and an exclusion bill. The former made 
it possible for every one charged with a crime to obtain a speedy 
trial, and was intended to make it more difficult for the crown 
to keep its political enemies in prison ; it became a law and is 
The Exclu- one of the most important safeguards of personal 
sion Bill. liberty. The exclusion bill was aimed at the Duke 

of York. As James was an avowed Catholic, the bill was 
intended to deprive him of his right to the English throne. To 
save the crown to his brother, Charles dissolved parliament. 

The following two years saw two successive parliaments in 
both of which the commons were dominated by Shaftesbury and 
loudly demanded "exclusion." The lords, however, followed 

1 Gardiner, 615-61S, 620. 2 Masterman, 137-138. 






THE DRIFT TOWARD ABSOLUTISM IN EUROPE 387 

the lead of the moderate Lord Halifax who stood for hereditary 
rights. The nation soon began to feel that Shaftesbury's party 
had gone too far in its opposition to the king and Prince James. 
The Whigs had not only wished to exclude James but some of 
them would also have excluded James' daughter Mary. After 
he had dissolved the legislature in 1681, Charles Secondperiod 
was done with parliaments and parliamentary elec- of Stuart 
tions. The remaining four years of his reign he J^^; 
devoted to a deliberate attempt to build up a 
despotism, a system in which constitutional organs could be 
made to carry out the commands of the absolute monarchy 

362. The Drift toward Absolutism in Europe. During 
the restoration period the most important person in Europe 
was Louis XIV, the king of France. Louis governed his king- 
dom by means of a vast organization of officials The govern- 
appointed by and responsible to himself or his mentrf^ 
administrative chiefs; and this bureaucratic ab- 
solutism was the cherished ideal of the European monarchs. 
As we have seen, Charles II had hopes of being able to develop 
a similar system in England. Events in northern Europe 
encouraged this hope. In 1661, Charles' cousin, the king of 
Denmark, became an absolute monarch; and twenty years 
later, during the second period of Stuart despotism in England, 
a similar revolution established despotism in Absolutism 
Sweden. In the Swedish movement especially, in Europe - 
the influence of the French example is evident. But the sway 
of Louis and France extended to social relations as well as to 
governmental affairs. His wonderful court at Versailles was 
the capital of the social world. European monarchs imitated 
not only its magnificence but its immorality. Charles II was 
a worthy imitator of the Grand Monarch, and for frivolity and 
low ideals the English court of this period probably had no equal 
in Europe. The influence of the court naturally Influen ce of 
spread to the aristocratic classes, among whom ^F^nch 
indifference to religion and morality seems to have 
been the rule. At the same time it must not be supposed that 



3 88 



THE STUART RESTORATION 



this state of mind was general throughout English society. The 
middle classes retained much of their old time moral vigor; 
Puritanism, though no longer a controlling factor, was still a 
powerful leaven. 

363. Social Changes. Certain fundamental changes were 
passing over English society in the second half of the seven- 
teenth century which tended to foster a healthier view of life. 
Changes in Comforts were becoming more general ; the habits 
habits of hfe. f \[f e were undergoing important changes, espe- 
cially in the matter of food and drink ; information as to the 




Coffee-Room in Cheshire Cheese Inn 

rest of the world was becoming more general and more accessible. 
Chocolate was coming into the country from Mexico by way of 
southern Europe. The increased trade with Asia resulted in 
the importation of coffee and tea. These beverages, especially 
coffee, soon came to be popularly used in place of the more 
Coffee highly stimulating drinks of the earlier centuries, 

houses. a j e anc j wme- As the result of the use of these new 

beverages, an institution known as the coffee house 1 appeared. 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 319-320; Gardiner, 630. 



LITERATURE OF THE RESTORATION 389 

This was a place where men could meet to drink coffee and 
talk over the affairs of the day, — politics, literature, or what- 
ever the chief matter of interest might be. The first coffee 
house was opened in the year 1652, and the institution soon 
multiplied rapidly. Its importance to English life lies in the 
fact that it facilitated the forming of public opinion. 

364. Newspapers. Another institution akin to this was the 
newspaper. A newspaper in the modern sense did not exist ; 
but there were certain publications that did attempt to relate 
some of the news of the day. This was done under great diffi- 
culties, as the government did not favor these ventures. News- 
papers were first published in the reign of Tames I, 

1 1 , 1 • , l Newspapers, 

at least as early as 162 1. In the early period of 

the civil war, they became more numerous and appeared with 
greater regularity ; but government opposition was soon awak- 
ened, and in 1662 stringent license laws were passed to regulate 
the new institution and prevent the publication of certain 
classes of political news. For some time the London Gazette 
was the only approved newspaper ; but the polit- The London 
ical excitement occasioned by the rise of the Whig Gazette - 
and Tory parties produced a demand for such organs and the 
number of newspapers increased. 

365. Literature of the Restoration. 1 In literature, too, 
we have an illustration of the two-fold character of the time. 
The court delighted in comedy and literature of Butler's 

the lighter forms. In the same spirit Butler wrote Hudlbras - 
his famous satire on the Puritans, the poem Hudibras. But 
the time also saw the great work of Milton, the famous allegory 
of Bunyan, and the strongest verse of Dryden. Milton was a 
writer of the older Puritan type, but Bunyan belonged to his 
own time ; in his work we have the expression of the new non- 
conformist spirit, a spirit that has never departed from English 
society. 

John Milton reached manhood about the time of the out- 
break of the Puritan revolt ; but he took no part in its earlier 

1 Gardiner, 596-598. 



3QO 



THE STUART RESTORATION 



Milton. 



phase. During the years of the Puritan migration to New 
England, he was passing the time quietly at his 
father's home ; these years saw the production of 
some of his best poetry, such as Comns and Lycidas. During 

the civil war he was largely 
engaged in controversial 
writing. After the execu- 
tion of the king he was ap- 
pointed Latin secretary to 
the newly organized council 
of state; but after five 
years of service he became 
totally blind. Milton also 
served the Puritan cause 
and the commonwealth as 
a pamphleteer, especially 
in a series of brief writings 
in which he defended the 
principles of republicanism 
in church and state. He 
opposed the restoration of 
the Stuarts, believing that 
a republic was still possible ; it is said that he barely escaped 
prosecution when the restoration had become a fact. The 
earlier years of the new reign saw John Milton deep in thought 
Paradise on theological questions, the result of which was 

Lost. Paradise Lost, perhaps the most stately literary 

product of the English language. Toward the close of his 
life he wrote the story of the blind Hebrew giant in Samson 
Agonistes. He died in 1674, at a time when the forces hostile 
to Puritanism seemed to be victorious all along the line. 

While Milton was composing his great epic, John Bunyan 

Bunyan: was putting in order the materials for his great 

Pilgrim's allegory, Pilgrim's Progress. Bunyan was a tinker 

by profession ; for a time he had been a soldier in 

the parliamentary army ; during the last years of Cromwell's 




John Milton 



LITERATURE OF THE RESTORATION 



391 



rule he had been identified with the Baptist congregation at 
Bedford which he finally served as minister. But the Claren- 
don Code, particularly the Conventicle Act, interfered with 
his activities as a preacher, and he was committed to prison 
where he spent twelve years. Bunyan's work differed from 
Milton's in every way. His theme is the religious experience 




John Bunyan's Meeting House, South London 

of the non-conformist ; his story is told in the simplest English 
prose. But it is to be remembered that the author saw the 
world through the bars of the prison and that what he saw par- 
ticularly was the sinfulness of restoration society. From one 
point of view Pilgrim's Progress is an illustration Bunyan's view 
of life in the later Stuart period ; but Bunyan's of llfe - 
picture is incomplete in that it fails to show the better and 
more agreeable side. 

Another phase of the Restoration mind is illustrated in the 
career of the poet Dryden. John Dryden was originally a 
Puritan and an admirer of Cromwell. He joined, 
however, in the enthusiasm of the restoration and 
became in time the great literary exponent of the Tory party. 



Dryden 



392 



THE STUART RESTORATION 



Van Dyck. 



His poem Absalom and Achitophel l is an attack on the pur- 
poses and methods of 'Shaftesbury and the Whigs. In the 
next reign Dryden be- 
came a convert to the 
Roman Catholic faith. 

366. The Fine 
Arts. 2 In the fine arts 
England made little 
progress during the 
seventeenth century. 
The paintings that we 
have from this period 
are chiefly the works 
of foreign artists, 

n ota b 1 y 

Van Dyck, 
whose paintings of 
Charles I and the va- 
rious members of his 
family are widely 
known. Architecture 
may be counted an 
exception : Sir Chris- 
topher Wren was an 
Christopher accomplished builder, though not an original de- 
Wren, signer, his style being copied from the Italian. 
The most notable product of his art is the Cathedral of Saint 
Paul's, which he rebuilt. The style is of the Renaissance 
order which prevailed in the public edifices of the age. 

367. Scientific Progress : the Royal Society. 3 Somewhat 
greater progress was made in science. The century opens with 
Sir Francis Bacon, the jurist and philosopher, and closes with 
the work of Sir Isaac Newton. Contemporary with Bacon 
was the eminent physician William Harvey, who discovered 
the circulation of the blood. About the middle of the century 

1 Kendall, No. 96; Innes, II, 151-153 2 Gardiner, 631-632. 3 Ibid., 598. 




John Dryden 
After a portrait by Kneller. 



SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS: THE ROYAL SOCIETY 393 

a few devotees of science began to hold occasional meetings to 
view and hear the results of scientific investigations. This 
body grew into the Royal Society, the purpose of The Royal 
which was to study the laws of mathematics, Societ y- 
the physical forces of the universe, and the laws and forms of 
the visible world. The society was christened in 1662 and three 
years later began to publish its transactions, which extend in 
continuous series to the present day. 



1 IK 




mj If 




m 




:£S ; : : 





Choir of St. Paul's, London 
From a photograph by W. H. Dudley. 



The most famous of all the members of the Royal Society 

was Isaac Newton, who was admitted to membership in 1671. 

Six years before, it is said, he had observed the _ 

J ' Isaac Newton. 

fall of an apple and had been started on a line of 
thought that led to the statement of the law of gravitation; 
but it was other discoveries in mathematics and physics that 
gained him a place in the Royal Society. It was during the 
reign of Charles II that Isaac Newton did his most enduring 
work in the sciences ; in the next reign he was drawn into the 



394 



THE STUART RESTORATION 



stream of politics and for some time proved very useful as a 
member of parliament and as a government official. 

Progress along intellectual lines was scarcely possible during 
the war of religious and political opinions that consumed so 
much energy during the first half of the seventeenth century. 
In this respect, too, the return of the Stuarts brought a restora- 
tion. The reign of Charles II was one of great intellectual 
activity, and the king by his patronage did much to give it 
wider and freer fields. 

368. Summary. The men who were in control during the 

Restoration period impress us as being, for the most part, a 

merry, somewhat dissipated, and not very serious company; 

still, they achieved much that has been of lasting importance. 

The English monarchy and the Stuart dynasty 
Restoration. to . . . . ~ L . 

were restored ; the reigning king, George V, is a 

descendant of a sister of Charles I. The English constitution, 
was restored; but the great reforms of the Long Parliament 
before 1642 were accepted and made a part of the constitution. 
The Anglican church was restored and the dissenters were 
largely deprived of political rights by the Corporation and Test 
Acts, which remained on the statute books for about one 
Scientific hundred and fifty years. There was a revival 

progress. f interest in scientific problems, and research 

was encouraged and stimulated. The British empire took on 
Territorial new growth : new settlements were formed in 
expansion. America and the English gained their first terri- 
torial foothold in India. The reign also determined an im- 
portant matter of foreign policy : England tore away from 
France and was drawn toward its old commercial rival, the 
Netherlands. And out of the strife over matters of religion 
Political and foreign policy, there arose two great political 

parties. parties, the Whigs and the Tories, the descendants 

of which are still in opposition to each other : the Whigs as the 
Liberals ; and the Tories as the Conservatives, or, as they are 
called just now, the Unionists. 



SUMMARY 



395 




Isaac Newton 



396 THE STUART RESTORATION 



REFERENCES 

The end of the commonwealth. — Fletcher, Introductory History of Eng- 
land, I, ii, 496-507; Innes, History of England, 463-466; Ransome, Advanced 
History of England, 609-612. 

The restoration settlement. — Cross, History of England, 529-540; 
Fletcher, II, i, 16-26; Gardiner, Student's History of England, 578-590; Innes, 
467-471; Oman, History of England, 420-426; Ransome, 613-620; Tout, 
Advanced History of Great Britain, 471-478. 

Whigs and Tories. — Fletcher, II, i, 37-52; Gardiner, 615-622; Innes, 
478-485; Ransome, 634-640; Tout, 484-488. 

Progress of the restoration period. — Cheyney, Short History of Eng- 
land, 490-498; Cross, c. xxxv; Fletcher, II, i, 1-16; Gardiner, 59 6 ~599) 
628-634. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
THE WHIG REVOLUTION 

369. The Earl of Shaftesbury. The troubles of Charles 
II during the last ten years of his reign were largely due to the 
activities of the earl of Shaftesbury. Anthony Ashley Cooper 
had begun his career as a royalist but soon turned parliamen- 
tarian and remained loyal to the republic until he saw that the 
restoration of the Stuarts was inevitable. For twelve years he 
was the king's friend and trusted adviser. In 1673, Founder of the 
however, he joined the opposition and founded the Whig party - 
Whig party. This was Shaftesbury's greatest achievement. 
He tried to use this new party to pass the Exclusion Bill and to 
secure the throne to James Crofts, better known as Monmouth, 
the alleged illegitimate son of Charles II. For his activities 
in this direction he incurred the wrath of the king and was 
made the subject of Dryden's famous satire, Absalom and 
Achitophel, 1 in which Monmouth plays the part of the rebel- 
lious son and Shaftesbury that of the wicked counselor. 

Charles attempted to have action brought against Shaftes- 
bury in the courts ; but in this he failed, for London, where the 
earl resided, was strongly Whig, and no grand jury could be 
found that would bring charges against the Whig chief. 2 
Charles then proceeded to transform the government of the 
City; but this move led to no better results, for the wily in- 
triguer managed to escape to Holland where he character of 
died a few months later (1683). Shaftesbury Shaftesbury, 
was a man of unquestioned abilities ; on the subject of religious 
and personal freedom he held broad views and doubtless held 
them honestly; but his actions were too often dictated by 
ambition and his methods frequently had a suspicious look. 

1 See II Samuel, cc. xvi-xvii; see sec. 365- 2 Gardiner, 622-624. 

397 



398 THE WHIG REVOLUTION 

370. Execution of the Whig Leaders. 1 1683. Charles 
was now thoroughly aroused and it became evident that the 
lazy monarch was possessed of remarkable abilities as a politi- 
Whig cian. In the year of Shaftesbury's flight some of 
conspiracies. t h e "Whig leaders were found to be plotting against 
the king's life; while a number of important lords, among 
whom were Monmouth, Lord Russell, and Algernon Sidney, 
were conspiring to create a situation that would force the 
king to call a parliament. Monmouth was forgiven, several 
of the other leaders were executed. Lord Russell had been a 
consistent opponent of the king's brother James, having fought 
him because of his Catholic faith ; such a man was not to be 
permitted to escape. A packed jury found him guilty of trea- 
Algernon son. Algernon Sidney had always been an oppo- 
Sidney. nent of monarchy ; so intense were his beliefs 
that he could not even approve the rule of Cromwell. He was 
convicted because of his republican opinions. As only one 
witness could be produced against him, an unpublished manu- 
script in which the accused defended his republican faith was 
permitted to serve as the second witness. 

371. The Despotism of Charles II. 2 The despotism of 
Charles I had been founded on the authority of the privy coun- 
cil ; that of Cromwell found its support in the Protector's 
control of a friendly army. Charles II had no army worth 
mentioning, nor had his privy council any effective power, 
since the Long Parliament had abolished its courts. But 
Charles II Charles discovered an effective instrument in the 
and the regular courts of the kingdom, the judges of which 
courts. were a pp } n t ec i by himself and carefully selected 
from among lawyers who were willing to stretch the law in the 
king's favor. The best known of these was-the notorious Jef- 
freys, who knew no law but the royal will and pun- 
Jeffreys. ■ . 

ished offenses against the government with greal 

brutality. It was Jeffreys who presided over the court thai 

1 Gardiner, 625-626. 

2 Review sees. 193-194; 302, 341. 



THE NEW COLONIAL POLICY. 1683-1688 399 

tried Algernon Sidney ; on many other occasions, too, did he 
earn the gratitude of the tyrannical king. 

372. The Remodeling of the Borough Corporations. 
1682-1684. To punish London for supporting Shaftesbury a 
suit was brought against the corporation of the City ordering it 
to show by what right {quo warranto) it was exercising the 
right of municipal government. Jeffreys and his associates on 
the king's bench did what was expected of them : they found a 
pretext for depriving the City of its charter, and the right of 

self-government was lost. Similar suits were soon r\ 

yuo war- 

brought against a number of boroughs with royal ranto pro- 
charters where Whiggism was in control. As the ceedings - 
courts were then constituted, it was not difficult to convict the 
corporations of illegal acts ; the charters were accordingly de- 
clared forfeited ; new ones were drawn up ; and new corporations 
were organized with Tories in control of the membership. As 
the municipal corporations ordinarily elected members of parlia- 
ment from the boroughs, the king hoped in this way to secure a 
Tory parliament, if he should ever be compelled to summon one. 

373. The New Colonial Policy. 1683-1688. It was in 
the year 1683 that the hand of Stuart despotism lay most 
heavily upon the English people : this was the year of the exe- 
cution of the Whig leaders and the remodeling of most of the 
borough corporations. In the following years the new political 
methods were extended to the colonies. The New England 
colonies were practically self-governing republics ; and the 
control of the king over the proprietary colonies of New York, 
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the Carolinas was not great. 
From the view-point of the king and his council the system was 
not an ideal one : Charles II was doubtless right in holding 
that the colonies could be rendered more profitable to the royal 
treasury and could be more easily defended against the Indians, 
if they were under the control of one governor instead of a 
dozen. The king determined that New England at least should 
be subjected to a more effective royal control. In 1684 a quo 
warranto suit was brought against Massachusetts. A colony 



4 oo THE WHIG REVOLUTION 

that had coined its own money, organized a colonial federation, 
and had even declared war could scarcely plead that it had 
been constantly loyal and obedient ; the result was that Massa- 
chusetts lost her charter. Two years later King James sent 
Sir Edmund Andros to Boston as governor of all the New Eng- 
Sir Edmund land colonies and New York and New Jersey. It 
Andros. seems to have been the king's plan also to attack the 

rights of the proprietors Penn and Baltimore and to unite all the 
American colonies into a great vice-royalty under a single governor 
who was to carry out the king's ideas without the aid of an as- 
sembly chosen by the colonists. But this plan was never realized, 
for in -1688 the revolution came and the Stuarts were deposed. 

374. The Death of Charles. During the last year of his 
life, Charles II seriously considered calling another parliament. 
There was a law that not more than three years should pass 
between parliaments ; but Charles felt strong enough to ignore 
it. The matter of finance, however, was a pressing one. The 
king had a regular income, but it was too small for a spendthrift 
Charles as a ^ e the "merry monarch." Louis XIV sent re- 
pensioner of mittances from time to time, but the amount was 

insufficient. Charles, however, did not live to call 
another parliament: in February, 1685, he fell ill and died. 
He had then governed England nearly twenty-five years, and 
most of the time he had ruled intelligently. On his deathbed 
he was reconciled to the Roman Catholic church, which he had 
secretly favored all through his reign. A priest was summoned ; 
Death of tne k- m 8 confessed his sins, of which he had many, 

Charles II. and received the sacrament. When this was done 

and the attendants readmitted, his humor returned 
to the dying man; "he had been a most unconscionable time 
a-dying, but he hoped they would excuse it." 1 

375. James II. 1685-1688. The king's brother, the duke 
of York, now ascended the throne as James II. 2 Of all the 

1 Bates and Coman, 344; Cheyney, Nos. 321-322; Gardiner, 627; Innes, II, 145- 
146 (character of Charles II). 

2 Cheyney, No. 323; Gardiner, 634-635. 



JAMES II. 1685-1688 



401 



Stuarts, James II is the least attractive. He is described as 
a tall, angular prince with a pockmarked face Personality of 
that also showed traces of a dissolute life. Most J ames IL 
of the Stuarts were handsome, clever, and stiff-necked ; of these 
characteristics James 
had inherited only the 
last, but this in a meas- 
ure greater than was 
due him. Many of his 
dynasty had also been 
afflicted with impossible 
purposes, the attainment 
of which they made a 
matter of conscience; 
that of James was to re- 
store Roman Catholi- 
cism in England, and in 
the effort he ruined the 
Stuart dynasty for all 
time. 

A few months before 
the Restoration while he 
was still in exile, James 
had secretly married 
Anne Hyde, the daugh- 
ter of Clarendon. Anne 

Hyde became the mother of several children, two of whom, 
Mary and Anne, lived to become queens of Eng- Anne R dg 
land. In 1673, two years after the death of Anne 
Hyde, Prince James, who had become a Romanist not long 
before, married Mary Beatrice, a young Italian Mary 
princess, whose ruling passion was an enthusiasm Beatnce - 
for the Roman faith. To bring a princess of this type to Eng- 
land in the year of the Test Act was indiscreet to say the least ; 
but James was not famous for discretion. On the death of 
Charles, King James and Queen Mary were accepted by the 




James II 

After the original picture painted for Secretary 
Pepys by O. Kneller. 



402 THE WHIG REVOLUTION 

English people with a great show of loyalty, though not with 
enthusiasm. Soon after the accession two revolts broke out, 
one in Scotland and the other in southwestern England in 
Revolts in favor of the impossible Monmouth. Both were 
favor of promptly crushed and punished with unusual se- 

Monmouth. ver } ty# i Jeffreys was sent into the southwest to 
bring Monmouth's partisans to trial, and so ruthlessly did he 
punish the misguided peasants that the sessions of his court 
have become known as the "Bloody Assizes." 2 On the whole, 
however, these rebellions intensified the loyalty of the English 
people and even brought some popularity to the throne. If 
King James had not undertaken to undermine the Anglican 
church, he doubtless would have been permitted to rule Eng- 
land in peace till the end of his days. 

376. The Appointment of Catholic Officials. 3 King James 
made the usual promises to rule according to law and to main- 
tain the church of England ; but after a few months his real 
Violation of purpose began to become evident. The uprising 
the Test Act. f ^g,- g ave h} m a p re text for enlarging the army 
and an opportunity to appoint several officers who were Catho- 
lics. This was in direct violation of the Test Act, which still 
had the force of law. James informed parliament of what he 
had done, and expressed his determination to keep these officers ; 
when the commons protested against such disregard for the law, 
the king adjourned parliament. 

The king's quarrel with the commons over the annulment of 
the Test Act came only a few weeks after Louis XIV had re- 
Persecution of v °ked the Edict of Nantes and withdrawn all pro- 
the Huguenots tection from the French Protestants. Soon reports 
came to England of how the Huguenots were made 
to suffer for their faith, and English Protestants of every party 
and faction began to fear that a king like James, who deliber- 
ately ignored the law, might place their own faith in similar 
danger. James II paid little heed to public sentiment, but 
began nevertheless to feel the desirability of giving his appoint- 

i Cheyney, Nos. 326-327. 2 Gardiner, 637-638. 3 Masterman, 145-146. 



THE ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION. 1686 403 

ments a legal sanction. He held that, as the statutes were 
made in the king's name, he was above the laws and could 
" dispense" with them in individual instances. He sounded 
the judges of the king's bench on this doctrine The ki 
and rinding four of them hostile to his views, he "dispenses" 
deprived these of their offices and appointed new W1 * e aw ' 
judges on whom he could depend for a favorable decision. 
Before this packed bench a case was brought charging one 
Hales, a Romanist, with holding an office under the crown in 
violation of the Test Act. Hales pleaded that he had a dispen- 
sation from the king, and the court held that this was legal and 
sufficient. 

377. Appointment of Catholics to Offices in the Church. 
If the king could appoint Catholic officers in the army, he could 
also, as head of the Anglican church, place Catholics in impor- 
tant church offices. That this would be a viola- catholics 
tion of propriety and good faith meant nothing to appointed to 
James II. A secret Romanist was made bishop of churchoffices - 
Oxford. The master of University College at Oxford became 
a convert to Catholicism and was soon actively engaged in 
making converts of others ; but he was allowed to retain his 
position. When the deanship of Christ Church College fell 
vacant, the office was given to a Romanist. The following 
year the twenty-five fellows of Magdalen College were deprived 
of their fellowships and expelled for refusing to elect a Catholic 
to the presidentship of their college. Romanists were appointed 
to their places. Thus three important Oxford colleges were on 
the way to become Romanized. 

378. The Ecclesiastical Commission. 1 1686. These were 
days of great sorrow and perplexity for the Anglicans. During 
the period of Puritan rule, churchmen had come to _„ 

1686. 

believe strongly in the divine right of kings and 
they had long taught that the deeds of the Lord's anointed 
should be above criticism. Still, there were some who pro- 
tested against the appointment of Catholics to office in a Prot- 

1 Gardiner, 639. 



404 THE WHIG REVOLUTION 

estant church. These objectors the king determined to silence. 
A new high ^ e accordingly organized an Ecclesiastical Corn- 
commission mission, much like the high commission court 1 
that had been abolished by the^Long Parliament, 
only its authority was not to extend to laymen. Jeffreys, 
who had once boasted that he could "smell a Presbyterian forty 
miles," was one of its leading spirits. The first case to come 
before the commission was that of Compton, the bishop of 
London, who had refused to punish a priest for criticising the 
king's appointments. Bishop Compton was suspended. It 
was this same commission that expelled the fellows of Magda- 
len College. The commission also had occasion to discipline 
the authorities of the University of Cambridge for refusing to 
give a degree to a Benedictine monk. Among those who ap- 
peared before Jeffreys and his associates on that occasion was 
Isaac Newton, who was professor of mathematics. "Sin no 
more," was the warning of the notorious judge, "lest a worse 
thing happen unto you." 

379. The First Declaration of Indulgence. 2 1687. Re- 
alizing that he had made enemies of the Tory churchmen, 
James now turned for moral support to the dissenters who 
Declaration of were largely Whigs. In April, 1687, he issued his 
Indulgence. fi rst Declaration of Indulgence by which he sus- 
pended all the laws against Catholicism and dissent and granted 
freedom of worship to all. The old recusancy laws dating from 
Elizabeth's time and the Conventicle Act with the other laws 
of the Clarendon Code were thus swept away. There was much 
iniquity in these laws ; but if the king could set aside bad laws, 
he could also annul any other law. Moreover, his hands were 
not clean and his purposes scarcely honest. As the declara- 
tion was issued only a few days before the king's interference 
at Magdalen College, it soon became clear to most men that his 
professions of tolerance had a purpose behind them. The 
Anglicans, at least, were not to share in this new freedom. 
There were many strong partisans of the Stuarts among the 

1 Review sees. 282, 306. 2 Gardiner, 640-641. 



THE FIRST DECLARATION OF INDULGENCE. 1687 405 






.cMSSJS 







wlV 






!■ 



IJH| 

IK, 



% 1 



406 



THE WHIG REVOLUTION 



dissenters, the most notable of whom was the famous Quaker 

chief, William Penn. These were in favor of ac- 
Stuart / . . ,.!../, 

partisans cepting the royal gift, and, their influence was 

among the strong with many, especially with Quakers and 
Baptists. But the great majority, the Presbyte- 
rians in particular, refused to accept a privilege that was denied 
them by the laws of the land. 

380. The Second Declaration: the Protest of the Seven 
Bishops. 1688. A year later (April, 1688), James II issued a 
second Declaration of Indulgence in which he reaffirmed the 
earlier grant ; he also ordered that this document should be 
read in all the Anglican churches. The church rebelled ; only 




The Seven Bishops on Their Way to the Tower 
From a Dutch print dated 1689. 



a very few priests obeyed the mandate. Seven bishops led by 
the archbishop of Canterbury drew up a petition to the king 
Trial of requesting him to excuse the priests from reading 

the seven the declaration. 1 Startled and angry the king 

bishops. replied: "This is rebellion. ... I will have my 

declaration published." Legal action was brought against the 

1 Cheyney, No. 330; Gardiner, 642-643; Kendall, No. 98. 



STUART TYRANNY IN SCOTLAND 407 

bishops, the charge being that they had libeled the king ; but 
the jury refused to convict. 1 

381. Stuart Tyranny in Scotland. By midsummer, 1688, 
James II had alienated almost the entire English nation ; even 
the Catholics, most of whom longed for peace rather than for 
power, hesitated to follow a king who showed so little discre- 
tion. In Scotland the situation was, if possible, even worse. 
Like the English the Scots had rejoiced in the res- The situation 
toration of the Stuart dynasty ; but when the new in Scotland, 
government insisted on ruling the national church through 
bishops, the Presbyterians resisted. In 1638 they had signed 
a pledge, the National Covenant, to maintain Presbyterianism, 
and on this act, which they regarded as a part of the national 
constitution, they based their right to resist. In 1679, when 
England was in a ferment over the exclusion bill, actual civil 
war broke out between the extreme Covenanters of the south- 
west, to whom bishops were an abomination, and the support- 
ers of the king, who found bishops acceptable, civil war. 
James, then duke of York, came to Scotland to 1679 - 
put down the uprising. With the assistance of " Bloody " Claver- 
house, a famous and capable soldier who led the royalist forces, 
and "Bloody" Mackenzie, a learned and active lawyer, who 
prosecuted the rebels in the courts, he made considerable head- 
way. Torture and the gallows were freely employed. The Cov- 
enanters replied with a threat to assassinate any one who should 
interfere with their rights or their persons. Such 
was the situation early in 1685 when Charles died. 
When James became king the work of repression was carried on 
even more vigorously. A few months after his accession the 
Scotch parliament enacted that persons who at- The "killing 
tended conventicles "were to be henceforth pun- tnne -" 
ished by death." The first two years of James' reign are known 
in Scotland as the "killing time." 

In 1687, soon after he had entered upon his new policy of 
toleration in England, James II asked the Scotch parliament 

1 Bates and Coman, 345; Innes, II, 158-162; Kendall, No. 99. 



408 THE WHIG REVOLUTION 

for an act of toleration in favor of his " innocent subjects, those 
of the Roman Catholic religion." When this was refused, he 
dismissed parliament and published a Declaration of Indul- 
gence for Scotland, which extended freedom of worship to all 
Efforts to ^ut the extreme Covenanters. Otherwise, too, 

promote the king showed that he was determined to pro- 

o icism. mote hi s own f a ith : as in England, he was purging 
the privy council of Protestant members and appointing Catho- 
lics in their stead. Mass was said in Holyrood chapel. The 
result was a truce between the Covenanters and the Episco- 
palians : they had now the common problem of how best to 
meet the aggressions of Romanism, which they feared and 
hated even more than they hated each other. 

382. The Succession: the Birth of a Prince. 1688. The 
hopes of the English and Scotch Protestants were centered about 
the king's oldest daughter, Mary, who was heiress presumptive 
to the crowns of Britain. Mary had been educated as a Prot- 
estant and had remained true to her faith. At the age of fif- 
teen she had been given in marriage to her cousin, William 
William of of Orange, the chief executive of the Dutch Re- 
Orange, public. Mary had all the virtues that belonged 
to the higher type of womanhood, all except strength and in- 
dependent spirit : she was completely under the domination of 
her strong-souled husband. The leaders of the opposition to 
James II did not enjoy the thought of having the stern and 
silent Dutchman as their regent ; but the king was becoming 
impossible, and they were not sure that they could allow him to 
reign in peace very many years longer. 

In the spring of 1688, the fear spread that Mary might never 
become the queen of England. It was reported that the king 
had visited a holy well in Wales and had been assured that a 
son would be born to him and that the child would live. On 
June 10, the boy was born, to the great joy of King James, who 
The birth had now an heir whom he could bring up in the 

of a prince. Catholic faith, but to the great disgust of the 
English people, who had been "waiting for better days," but 



THE INVASION OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE. 1688 409 

now saw that their next ruler, too, was likely to be of the re- 
ligion that England had repudiated. It was also rumored that 
the little prince had died, and that a spurious infant had been 
provided by the Jesuits to take his place. The story found 
wide credence : even the Princess Anne had her doubts. To 
her sister Mary in Holland, who was also interested, she wrote : 
"I shall never now be satisfied whether the child be true or 
false, maybe 'tis our brother . . . where one believes it a crowd 
do not." 

383. The Invasion of William of Orange. 1 November, 
1688. Before the close of the month came the trial of the seven 
bishops, and a few hours after their acquittal, a messenger set 
out secretly for Holland with an invitation to William of Orange 
to " Come as the husband of the heiress of Great Britain. Come 
and demand a free Parliament and security for Protestantism." 
The invitation was signed by six men of promi- An invitation 
nence, all of whom had personal grievances against sent to 
the Stuarts. Russell and Sidney had kinsmen to 1 iam ' 
avenge; Bishop Compton had been deprived of his see. Most 
of the men who signed were Whigs, but Danby and Compton 
were Tories. 

William of Orange had long been deep in the secrets of the 
dissatisfied Englishmen ; still, he responded to the invitation 
with some reluctance. James II was his uncle and father-in- 
law ; the situation was indeed embarrassing. But danger was 
threatening from France, and while William cared little for the 
English crown, he was anxious to have the wealth, William's fear 
the army, and the navy of England at his disposal of France - 
in the war that the ambitious and restless Louis XIV was sure 
to bring upon Europe. He spent the summer and autumn in 
preparing a great fleet for a pretended invasion of Denmark 
which was just then under French influence, but in reality for 
an invasion of England. Louis XIV warned James of his son- 
in-law's intentions and offered him the use of his fleet ; but the 
dense monarch was sure that his daughter would forbid the 

1 Cheyney, No. 331; Gardiner, 643-646. 



41 o THE WHIG REVOLUTION 

invasion and declined the assistance. In disgust Louis turned 

, . „,„ his attentions once more to the Rhine frontier, 
Louis XIV . 

attacks and soon the war of the Palatinate was in full 

the Rhine blast. The European fear of Louis XIV was an 
country. . 

important asset in William's diplomacy : it was 

chiefly this that secured for him the friendly neutrality of the 

leading Catholic powers, Austria and Spain, and even the 

papacy, while he left his own land to dethrone a Catholic 

monarch. 

In November the Prince of Orange finally set sail. So large 
was his fleet that it required seven hours to pass a given point. 
Invasion Easterly winds drove the armament down the 

of England. Channel, and the landing was made at Torbay. 
Slowly the Dutch army proceeded toward London. On Salis- 
bury Plain King James had a large force, but it lacked in 
loyalty : the soldiers who had cheered the acquittal of the seven 
bishops now deserted to the enemy. 1 Even the Princess Anne 
The English fled to the camp of the invader. The government 
desert James. was panic-stricken. King James deserted the 
nation : just before Christmas he succeeded, to William's great 
relief, in making his escape to France, whither the queen and 
the little prince had preceded him a few days earlier. 

384. The Revolution Settlement. 2 When the new year 
arrived, England was facing a strange situation politically : 
there was no parliament in existence and the king had left the 
land. The problem was how to provide a government that 
would have at least the appearance of legality. After con- 
sulting the chief men of the nation, William de- 
The second .,,,., , 

Convention cided to refer the matter to the electorate, and 

F^Jl iament * ordered an election for members of a convention 

1689. 

parliament. This body, which contained men of 
the most diverse opinions from extreme republicans to Stuart 
partisans, finally passed four great measures which together 
constitute the Revolution Settlement. 

i. After long discussion as to how James II could best be 

i Kendall, No. ioo. 2 Masterman, 148-151. 



THE REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT 411 

disposed of, it was agreed that when he fled from the land he 
virtually abdicated the throne, and that the kingship was ac- 
cordingly vacant. William and Mary were then William and 
declared to be the joint sovereigns of the nation. 1 Mary joint 
This was a most unusual arrangement, but it ru ers ' 
seemed the only way out of a complex situation. William 
refused to act as regent for his wife as queen, and Mary was too 
dutiful a wife to accept a title that she could not share with her 
husband. It was agreed that the executive authority should 
be laid in William's hands ; but till her death five years later, 
Queen Mary directed the government of the kingdom the 
greater part of the time, as King William was frequently absent 
from England, usually in the Netherlands of which he con- 
tinued as chief executive. 

2. Before William and Mary were formally tendered the 
sovereignty, parliament adopted a Declaration of Right, in 
which an attempt was made to justify the revolution. Later 
this Declaration with certain additions relating to the succession 
was reenacted as the Bill of Rights. 2 This famous The Bill of 
and important document is made up of three chief Ri s nts - 
parts. In the first place it contains a list of the principal sins 
that James II had committed against the nation. This is 
followed by a statement of the "ancient rights and liberties" 
of England, among which are mentioned the right of parliament 
to control taxation, the army, and its own proceedings, and 
the right of Protestant subjects to bear arms. Excessive bail, 
excessive fines, and cruel punishments are forbidden. Finally 
the Bill of Rights provides for the succession and enacts that 
no Roman Catholic shall ever inherit the throne of England. 
It also enacts that any person who shall become a Catholic or 
marry a Catholic, "shall be excluded and be forever incapable 
to inherit, possess, or enjoy the crown and government of" 
England and Ireland. The English king must remain a Prot- 
estant or lose his throne. A century later, when the Americans 

1 Gardiner, 646-647. 

2 Cheyney, No. 332; Robinson, No. 149; Tuell and Hatch, No. 57. 



4 i2 THE WHIG REVOLUTION 

were forming new governments for the states and the nation, 
the form and the phraseology of the Bill of Rights came to have 
great importance, and "bills of rights" are still prefixed to most 
American constitutions. 

3. In March, 1689, there was a mutiny in the army, which 
called attention to the fact that the paragraph in the Petition 
of Right (1628) relating to martial law made it difficult to main- 
tain discipline in the army. A Mutiny Act was therefore 
The Mutiny passed which authorized the enforcement of mar- 
Act - tial law in the army. To make sure that there 
would be a session of parliament the following winter, the 
duration of this act was limited to six months. Since then it 
has been reenacted annually and for a time it proved an effec- 
tive means of compelling the government to have parliamentary 
sessions every year. 

4. When the temptation came to the dissenters in the form 
of the Declaration of Indulgence published by James II, their 
leaders received assurance from prominent Anglican church- 
men that if they refused to yield, relief should come in due time 
through an act of parliament. In 1689 this promise was re- 
deemed by the passage of the Toleration Act which granted 
The Tolera- freedom of worship to all Christians except Catho- 
tion Act. lies and Unitarians. 1 The act, however, did not 

excuse the dissenters from the obligation of paying 
the usual church dues to the Anglican church ; nor did it con- 
vey any political rights : the Corporation Act and the Test 
Act remained in force, and public offices were legally open to 
such persons only as partook of the communion in Anglican 
churches. 

385. The Revolution in Scotland. The English revolution 
had a close parallel in Scotland. On the request of more than 
The Scotch a hundred prominent Scotchmen, William called a 
"Claim of convention parliament for the northern kingdom. 
Right." Thig bod y met in jy[ arc ] lj l6 g 9j adopted a Claim of 

Right in imitation of the English Declaration, and offered 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 333, 34°- 



THE REBELLION IN IRELAND. 1689-1692 413 

the sovereignty to William and Mary. Episcopacy was abol- 
ished, and the following year Presbyterian church government 
was reestablished, but in a moderate form. For more than a 
century the church had fought for the control of the state, and 
the state for the control of the church ; this warfare was now 
past. Many Scotchmen refused to accept William and clung 
to the fugitive James. Claverhouse raised the standard of the 
Stuart dynasty in the Highlands, but at Killi- Stuart up _ 
krankie, in the first battle with the Whig soldiers, risings in the 
the great leader fell. 1 As no new chief came for- 1 s hlands - 
ward to lead the movement, the Highlanders lost interest and 
the revolt melted away. 

386. The Rebellion in Ireland. 2 1689-1692. It was only 
natural that troubles in Great Britain should call forth rebellion 
in Ireland. Less than three months after his precipitate flight 
from England, King James appeared in Ireland, King James 
where he was loyally received by the native Irish- in Ireland - 
men. In Ulster, however, the Scotch-Irishmen 3 prepared to 
resist him : they stood for William of Orange, and have since 
been known as Orangemen. At Londonderry they endured a 
long and terrible siege that told heavily on the resources and 
patience of the Stuart king. William III sent an army into Ire- 
land in 1689 and the next year he took the field himself, to the 
great anxiety of gentle Queen Mary, who thought with horror 
on the possibility that her husband might meet her father on 
the field of battle. Her fears were groundless. Battle of 
On the banks of the Boyne, not far from Drogheda, the Boyne. 
the Irish suffered a crushing defeat. It is told 
that when the disappointed king reached Dublin the same 
evening he remarked to an Irish lady: "Your countrymen 
run well, Madam." To which the lady replied: "I congratu- 
late your Majesty on having won the race." 

James II scarcely paused until he was once more on French 
soil. The Irish continued the struggle and it took two years of 

1 Bates and Coman, 346-350 (Aytoun, Killikrankie) . 

2 Cheyney, No. 335; Gardiner, 654-657. 3 Review sec. 273. 



4 i4 THE WHIG REVOLUTION 

fighting to put down the uprising. Peace was finally secured 
Treaty of ^y the treaty of Limerick, which promised the 

Limerick. Irish Catholics the same freedom in religious mat- 

1692 " ters that they had enjoyed in the time of Charles 

II, when the recusancy laws were not enforced. But the treaty 
was never carried out. The Protestants in the Irish parlia- 
ment annulled its provisions, and to the peasants of Ireland the 
" Glorious Revolution" brought nothing but misery. 

387. The Revolution in the Colonies. The revolutionary 
movement also extended to the American colonies. When 
the news came of the change of rulers in the mother country, 
the colonists promptly took action and deposed the governors 
that James II had given them. The men of Boston seized their 
The rising viceroy, Sir Edmund Andros, and threw him into 
in Boston. prison. William Penn, as a Stuart partisan, had 
some difficulties with the new rulers, but he was ultimately 
restored to his rights. Although the new government favored 
a closer union and a more effective royal control of the colonies, 
it was thought best to reestablish conditions as they were just 
before Charles II had begun his attack on the colonial charters. 
William III decided, however, that inasmuch as Massachusetts 
had lost her charter by due process of law, it should not be 
restored. A new document was drawn up in' 1691, which was 
A new charter ^ ess nDera -l in its provisions than the earlier one, 
for Massa- as it reserved to the English government the right 

to appoint the governor and to veto legislation by 
the colonial assembly. 

388. The Results of the Revolution. The Revolution of 

1688 was one of the most important events in English history. 

It closed two mighty conflicts that for several generations had 

hindered the English nation from developing into 

Toleration. „ fe , ..-.■■, 

a first-class power : the struggle over religion and 

the fight for political freedom. The Puritan did not win su- 

End of theory premacy, but he found toleration and with this he 

of divine right. was reasonably satisfied. The theory of divine 

right disappeared from English politics, for the facts were against 



THE RESULTS OF THE REVOLUTION 415 

it : it was impossible to hold that William III ruled by any 
other title than that given by parliament, and the same was 
true of the Hanoverian dynasty that ascended the throne some 
years later in accordance with the Act of Settlement. While 
parliament thus became the supreme power in the Supremacy of 
state, the king remained a mighty factor in the P arli ament. 
government, for as yet parliament had no effective organs 
through which to control the administration : but such an organ 
was developed in the next century, when circumstances threw 
the executive power into the hands of the king's cabinet. 

Further expansion of the British Empire was also made 
possible by the consequences of the revolution. The foreign 
policy of Cromwell and the Stuarts was now definitely reversed ; 
a close alliance was entered into with the Dutch Republic 
against Louis XIV and France. So long as there had been 
alliance or friendly understanding between Eng- New foreign 
land and France, the British Empire was hindered P° llc y- 
in its growth in the two most promising regions of the colonial 
world: India and America. In America the French claims 
north and west of the Alleghany Mountains limited English 
settlements to a narrow strip along the Atlantic between Canada 
and Florida. But after 1688 the West was no longer the terri- 
tory of a friendly power, and in due time the English crossed 
the mountain barriers and carried their flag to the Mississippi 
River. 

REFERENCES 

The revolution of 1688. — Beard, Introduction to the English Historians, 
404-416 (Macaulay); Fletcher, Introductory History of England, II, i, 62-76; 
Innes, History of England, 495-504; Jenks, Parliamentary England, c. ii; Oman, 
History of England, 445-447; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 649-665; 
Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 490-495. 

The revolution settlement. — Andrews, History of England, 404-412; 
Beard, 417-422 (Macaulay); Fletcher, II, i, 77-86; Innes, 505-509; Ransome, 
667-672; Tout, 496-498. 

The revolution in Scotland and Ireland. — Fletcher, II, i, 240-247; 
Innes, 509-517; Oman, 448-453; Ransome, 672-681; Tout, 498-502. 



CHAPTER XIX 



THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE 

389. William III. 1 William III was the last great king of 
England. Since his day England has had rulers of moderate 
Personality of ability only ; in one or two instances the royal 
William in. capacity for government has been of a very limited 
nature. William of Orange was a dark, sad-faced man with 

striking though not 
handsome features : " his 
eyes are fire ; his nose 
aquiline, his cheeks hol- 
low, the mouth large 
with irregular and ex- 
traordinarily long teeth 
and a pointed chin . . . 
the length of the face 
is out of proportion 
with his stature." His 
personality suggested 
the eagle and there was 
much of the eagle's 
nature in his make-up. 
Physically he was weak 
— he was almost an in- 
valid ; but he possessed 
a powerful intellect and 
a strong, stern, and pa- 
tient will. He was a fair general and a remarkable diplomat : 
all the forces that were opposed to the ambitions of France 
looked to William III as their leader. 

» Tuell and Hatch, No. 58 (Macaulay). 
416 




William III 



THE JACOBITES 417 

390. The Jacobites. A ruler of such a type could not be 
popular with Englishmen. That he was lacking in flesh and 
blood was bad enough ; what was worse, he was a Un ularit 
foreigner who looked at the world from the Dutch of the new 
point of view; he brought Dutchmen to England regime - 
and placed them in desirable offices ; and his policy of foreign 
warfare was very expensive. Very soon a party grew up that 




favored a restoration of the Stuarts, James II if that was un- 
avoidable, but preferably the young prince James of whom ex- 
cellent reports were being circulated. The Stuart following 
was known as the Jacobite party and was quite strong, espe- 
cially among the Scotch Highlanders, who looked upon William 
as the representative of the English influence which 
was very hateful to them. For a time Jacobitism 
was a real danger, though in the end it accomplished nothing. 
The difficulty was that while the Stuart partisans in England 
were willing to send money to the exiled family and to drink 



Jacobitism. 



4 i 8 THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE 

toasts to the "King over the Water," they were chiefly coun- 
The"Kinc tr y g ent lemen who shrank from the thought of 
over the rebellion and contented themselves with passive 

water. resistance. Many of the leading men of the time, 

even high government officials, were in correspondence with 
James and his son, but very few cared to come out openly for 
another Stuart restoration. 

391. The War of the Palatinate. 1689-1697., King Wil- 
liam lived for a single purpose, to secure the independence of 
Policy of his native Netherlands by crippling France. For 

William in. thirty years he served as the head of the Dutch 
Republic, and these years were almost one continuous conflict 
with Louis XIV, now on the battle field, now on the field of 
diplomacy. It w?s the ambition of Louis to extend France 
eastward, at least as far as the Rhine, which the French were 
in the habit of regarding as their "natural boundary." Along 
French the upper course of the Rhine, King Louis was 

aggressions. making considerable progress ; and if the plan were 
to be completely realized, it would deprive the Dutch of much 
territory, as the Rhine ran through the United Netherlands. 

In opposition to Louis William organized a great league com- 
prising England, Holland, Spain, the Empire, and several lesser 
The lea ue powers. The war of the Palatinate, or of the league 
against of Augsburg, as it is sometimes called, began in 

Loms XIV. i6§9 and contmuec j eight years. There was fight- 
ing all along the eastern border of France ; but England was 
chiefly interested in the warfare in the Channel and in the 
The War Spanish Netherlands (modern Belgium). Louis 

of the had built up a strong navy, stronger than the 

Palatinate. comb i ne d fleets of England and Holland. The 
French were planning to invade England ; but in 1692 Admiral 
Russell met the French in the Bay of La Hogue and won a 
decisive victory. For six days the English fought 
or pursued the French, taking many ships and 
destroying them. This was the greatest naval victory that 
England had won since the destruction of the Invincible 



REFORM OF THE COINAGE 419 

Armada. Great Britain was saved from invasion. Louis 
now lost interest in his fleet and pursued the war on land, 
where his victories, though frequent, were barren of results. 

392. The National Debt; the Bank of England. 1 When 
the war closed in 1697, neither side could boast any advantage. 
There were, however, certain lasting consequences. D ecline of 
For one thing the cause of James II, who was the Stuart 
active on the French side, became more desperate 

than ever. England could not take a king from a family that 
was living on the bounty of Louis XIV. The war also produced 
a national debt. Earlier all wars had been fought and financed 
by the king ; if his regular income was not sufficient to meet 
the expense, he got subsidies from parliament, or he borrowed 
money from the goldsmiths and other money lenders. But in 
1692 parliament began to borrow money. Two The national 
years later, parliament chartered the Bank of debt 1692 - 
England. This institution was first suggested by William 
Paterson, a canny Scotchman with a taste for ventures in 
finance. It was Paterson's idea that it would be more con- 
venient to borrow money in large sums from a bank than in 
small sums from a large number of lenders. A bank would also 
be a safer place in which to deposit cash than the shops of the 
goldsmiths. In return for its service to the govern- The Bank of 
ment, the Bank of England was permitted to issue England, 
bank notes which passed as currency. Paterson's 
bank grew to be the most important bank in the world. 

393. Reform of the Coinage. A serious financial problem of 
the time was how to strike a coin that would retain its nominal 
value. In those days the edges of all coins were Isaac Newton 
smooth and "clipping," that is paring the coin as official in 
down, was a common offense. After a shilling had 

been clipped a few times, it no longer passed for full value. 
In 1696, two years after the Bank of England was chartered, 
Isaac Newton was given an office in the mint, and he remained 
connected with that service till his death thirty years later. 

1 Innes, Industrial Development, 194-198. 



4 20 THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE 

Newton hit upon the simple expedient of striking coins with a 
milled edge. When it was found that a clipped coin would no 
longer be accepted, the practice ceased. 

394. Wealth and Industry. The medieval belief that gold 
and silver are the only real wealth was still held in England 
when the eighteenth century began. It was commonly known 
as the "mercantile theory." The mercantilists taught that 
Principles of England should try to sell as much as possible 
mercantilism, abroad and buy very little in return ; the difference 
would then come into the country in cash and the "balance of 
trade" would be favorable. It was thought that this could be 
accomplished by legislation and other efforts along four separate 
lines. 

i. All English goods should be carried in English ships 
manned by English crews. There would then be employment 
The English ^ or tne nat ive sailors and the money paid out for 
merchant transportation would remain in England. The 

navigation acts were planned to develop the Eng- 
lish merchant marine. A new instalment of the navigation acts 
came in 1696. The victory at La Hogue was also an important 
event in the history of the merchant marine, as it crippled the 
only power that could prey effectively on English commerce. 

2. Enough grain must be raised so that it would become un- 
necessary to buy abroad. This meant that agriculture must be 
Development given special attention. In the second half of the 
of agriculture, seventeenth century much farm land was reclaimed 
by extensive draining in the Fenlands near the Wash ; in this 
work Dutch engineers were employed. Later in English his- 
tory agriculture was "protected" by the so-called corn laws, 
which forbade the importation of grain until English grain 
should have reached a fixed price. 

3. Exports should be encouraged and imports discouraged. 
There was therefore much opposition to such trading corn- 
Emphasis on panies as the East India Company which dealt 
export trade. j n i m p rts only, as the Orientals bought almost 
no English products. But as a large part of these imports were 



THE SPANISH SUCCESSION 421 

again sold to other European countries, the company was able 
to meet the criticism successfully. 

4. It was necessary to provide work for all, especially in 
the industries. Parliament had from time to time passed laws 
to encourage trade ; but the great industrial growth Encourage- 
in the days of William and Anne was a natural merit of 
one. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in ustry ' 
(1685), nearly half a million Huguenots emigrated from France 
to Protestant lands, a large number settling in England. Many 
of the Huguenots were men of wealth ; others were skilled 
artisans in some of the finer trades ; they brought Huguenot 
capital, business ability, skilled workmanship, and merchants and 
new methods and industries into English commer- 
cial and industrial life. The Huguenots were hatters and 
weavers ; they were expert jewelers and clock makers ; they 
were skilled in the manufacture of fine glass. On the whole 
they were well received in England, for they did not, as a rule, 
come into competition with the native manufacturers : the 
Huguenot weavers were interested in silk, linen, and cotton 
rather than wool. In a comparatively short time the output of 
English manufactures increased twenty-fold. 

395. The Spanish Succession. 1 When peace was made at 
Ryswick in 1697, it was not so much to close the war that was 
going on, as to get some time to prepare for another war that 
seemed sure to come. Charles II, the degenerate king of Spain, 
whose death had seemed imminent for a number of years, was 
nearing the close of life. He had no children and the question 
was what would become of the Spanish inheritance. The Spanish 
This was indeed vast : it comprised the kingdom mnentance - 
of Spain with the Balearic Islands ; the kingdom of Naples 
and Sicily and the duchy of Milan in Italy ; the Spanish Nether- 
lands ; Cuba, Mexico, Central and South America ; and the 
Philippine Islands. There were two claimants The 
finally : Louis XIV claimed the entire inheritance claimants - 
for the Dauphin, whose mother was a sister of Charles II ; 

1 Cheyney, No. 33S. 



422 THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE 

Leopold of Austria, the emperor, whose mother was an aunt 
of the Spanish king, claimed the monarchy for his son, the 
Archduke Charles. William III had no interest in the Spanish 
lands, but he was anxious to prevent the union of the French 
and Spanish crowns. He also wished to avoid another war, 
for which he was at the moment ill prepared : the Tories, who 
now were a peace party, had come into power and were actively 
cutting down the expenses of the nation by reducing the English 
army. 

William then proposed to Louis that they should settle the 
matter for the Spaniards, and the two monarchs calmly pro- 
The partition ceeded to dispose of territories to which neither 
treaties. nac i any right. Two " partition treaties" were 

secretly drawn up, but both failed. Shortly before his death, 
Charles II disposed of his many crowns by a will, according 
to which Philip of Anjou, a grandson of Louis XIV, was ap- 
pointed heir to the kingdom of Spain and all its dependencies, 
on the condition, however, that the kingdoms of France and 
Spain should never have a common ruler. 1 If Philip should 
ever accept the French crown, he would have to abdicate the 
The will of Spanish kingship. Louis accepted the terms of 
Charles II. tne w [\\ an( j promptly proceeded to act as if he and 
not his grandson were the heir : to secure their frontier, the 
Dutch had been allowed by the treaty of Ryswick to hold cer- 
tain fortresses in the Spanish Netherlands ; these Louis now 
seized and the Dutch were driven out. 

396. The Act of Settlement. 2 1701. The second parti- 
tion treaty was signed in February, 1700, and in June the 
The succession question of the British succession began to take 
in England. on a ii ve iy interest. William and Mary had no 
children ; according to the Bill of Rights the crown was there- 
fore to go to the Princess Anne, and it was generally expected 
that William, the young son of this princess, and the only one 
of her many children who survived infancy, would eventually 
ascend the English throne. But in 1700 Prince William died, 

1 Robinson, No. 156. 2 Gardiner, 672-674; Masterman, 152-153. 



QUEEN ANNE. 1702-1714 • 423 

and it seemed likely to many that young Prince James 
Stuart, who was now thirteeen years old, would some day 
prove a powerful candidate for the crowns of Britain. But the 
"Old Pretender," as he came to be called, was the guest of 
Louis XIV, with whom England was likely soon to be at war, 
and he seemed as firm a Catholic as his father. To prevent 
his accession, a Tory parliament in 1701 passed the Act of 
Settlement, which provided that, in case both Anne The Act f 
and William III should die without heirs, the Settlement, 
crowns of England and Ireland should pass to the 
Electress Sophia of Hanover and to her heirs "being Protes- 
tant." The electress was the granddaughter of James I, and 
sister of Prince Rupert who fought so gallantly for Charles I. 
There were more than fifty men and women of Stuart blood who 
stood nearer the throne than did Sophia ; but they The Electress 
were all professed Roman Catholics, and parlia- Sophia of 
ment was determined that England should have a anover * 
Protestant ruler ; there was, however, no enthusiasm for the 
stately electress who was finally chosen. All sovereigns of Eng- 
land since Queen Anne have held their crowns by virtue of this 
Act of Settlement. 

397. Preparations for War. England saw with fear the 
vast increase of power that had come to the Bourbon dynasty ; 
but the Tories were reluctant to go to war. William, however, 
saw that a conflict was unavoidable, and proceeded to organize 
another "grand alliance," this time in support The " Grand 
of the Austrian candidate. In September, three Alliance -" 
months after the Act of Settlement had become a law, James II 
died ; an entirely new situation was now created, for Louis XIV 
promptly proclaimed Prince James king of England, Scotland, 
and Ireland. Thus began the reign of James III, 

a pretense that he kept up for sixty-four years. 

The proclamation was deeply resented in England ; and the 

nation rallied to William's support. 

398. Queen Anne. 1702-1714. A few months later Wil- 
liam was thrown from a horse and suffered such severe injuries 



424 



THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE 



Queen Anne. 



that after an illness of two weeks he died (March, 1702). He 
Death of was succeeded by the Princess Anne, 1 who bore the 

William in. crown f r twelve years. Queen Anne was almost 
wholly wanting in the qualities that distinguish a ruler : she 
had no personal charms and no talents of any sort, 
least of all those that are necessary to the diplo- 
mat or the politician. England in her day was governed by 

favorite ministers. 
From her husband she 
could expect no assis- 
tance : Prince George 
realized that he had no 
abilities of the sort re- 
quired, and he had a well 
founded suspicion that 
the nation was also 
aware of it. Queen 
Anne was devoted to 
the English church ; and 
as the churchmen were 
chiefly Tories, her lean- 
ings were in the same 
direction, and whenever 
possible she selected 
Tories as her chief ad- 
visers. 2 

399. The Duke and 
Duchess of Marlbor- 
ough. William's death 
on the eve of a tremendous war, the greatest that Europe had 
known for centuries, was a great loss to the enemies of France. 
The Duke of But William's preparations were complete ; he had 
Marlborough. even se i ec t e d the general who was to lead the 
forces of the allies : John Churchill 3 was the greatest military 




Queen Anne 
From an engraving published 1815. 



Bates and Coman, 352 (Pope). 
Cheyney, No. 337. 



Tuell and Hatch, No. 59. 



THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH 



425 



genius of his age; he was also a statesman of the higher class. 
Churchill had been high in the favor of James II; but in 1688 
he had deserted to William, who had rewarded him with the 
title of earl. He was not 
always faithful to the 
Dutch king, but Wil- 
liam realized his useful- 
ness and forgave him. 
To Anne he was always 
loyal, and soon after 
the opening of her reign 
she created him duke of 
Marlborough. During 
the first half of the new 
reign he was virtually 
the ruler of England : 
the management of the 
great war and the con- 
trol of foreign affairs 
were in his hands. 
Marlborough was nec- 
essarily absent with the 
army most of the time ; 
but he had two efficient 
agents in London, his friend Sidney Godolphin, the lord treas- 
urer, and his wife, Sarah Jennings Churchill. 

The Duchess Sarah was a talented woman of great beauty 
with a domineering disposition and an ungovernable temper. 
She had been a childhood companion of the queen, The Duchess 
and while Anne was still a princess her influence of Mari- 
with her royal mistress was unbounded. When oroug 
Anne became queen, Sarah's power began to wane; but her 
influence remained great for some years yet. In her earlier 
years Anne had needed a guide ; now she needed a sympathetic 
friend and comforter : she was in constant ill health ; her do- 
mestic bereavements had been many ; her dull but good-natured 




John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough 
From a portrait by Sir G. Kneller. 



426 THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE 

husband died in 1708 ; and the claims of her brother gave her 

an uneasy conscience. Such a friend she found in Abigail Hill, 

later Mrs. Masham, a cousin of the imperious 
Mrs. Masham. -», 

Sarah, but of a totally dmerent character. Mrs. 

Masham shared the sorrows of the tearful queen, and inciden- 
tally shared her political secrets and helped her to make up her 
mind in important state affairs, especially in making appoint- 
ments to office. 

400. The War of the Spanish Succession. 1702-1713. 
The war of the Spanish succession began almost immediately 
Queen Anne's after Queen Anne's accession and continued almost 
War - to the close of the reign. The English forces fought 
chiefly in the Spanish Netherlands, where Marlborough won a 
series of brilliant though not very decisive victories. Only once 
did he fight a campaign elsewhere : in 1704 he made a dash up 
the Rhine into Bavaria and annihilated a French army at Blen- 
heim. 1 A few days earlier an English fleet seized the rock of 
Gibraltar, which England still retains. A feeble attempt was 
made to fight the French in America ; and Acadia, renamed 
Nova Scotia, was added to the British possessions. 

401. The Treaty of Utrecht. 2 1713. The long war closed 
with the treaty of Utrecht in 17 13. On the whole the allies 
were victorious. Philip, the Bourbon prince, retained the 
Spanish throne, but was forced to surrender some of the more 
unimportant possessions of his crown, those in the Nether- 
Losses of lands and in Italy, most of which were transferred 
the Spanish to his rival Charles, who was now emperor. Eng- 
land received territorial and commercial compensa- 
tion. Spain surrendered Gibraltar and Minorca, and England 
has from that time been a power in the Mediterranean. France 
Territorial acknowledged the English rights to Acadia, New- 
gains of foundland, and the great fur-bearing regions about 

Hudson Bay. Spain further allowed England a 
monopoly of the slave importation into America for a period 

1 Bates and Coman, 353-355 (Southey, Blenheim). 

2 Gardiner, 696-698; Innes, II, 179-184 (Swift's view of the war). 



UNION OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 1707 427 

of thirty years: this was the famous Assiento. A company 
was organized to carry on the slave trade, in which many 
prominent Englishmen, including the queen, be- 
came stockholders. Spain also agreed to allow a 
single ship to trade each year at the Isthmus of Panama. This 
provision the English evaded by dispatching a whole fleet to 
the Isthmus but sending only one ship into port : this ship would 
make a series of trips between the fleet and the harbor, until 
all the cargoes were disposed of. The treaty also permitted 
the Dutch to close the river Scheldt. Higher up closing of 
this stream in the Spanish Netherlands was the the Scheldt - 
great city of Antwerp which in those days threatened to rival 
London as a commercial center. The closing of the Scheldt 
ruined Antwerp, and London rapidly advanced toward the 
commercial supremacy that she still holds. 

402. The Union of England and Scotland. 1 1707. A 
most important event in the reign of Anne was the union of 
England and Scotland into a single kingdom of Great Britain. 
Since the accession of James I in 1603, the two countries had 

been governed by a common king but were other- 

t • ' 1 ■ * t? , . „ The "personal 

wise distinct monarchies. A personal union union " of 

is, however, usually an unsatisfactory arrange- En s land and 

ment. The king's foreign policy is dictated 

chiefly by the interests of the stronger kingdom ; and in the 

eyes of the nations the weaker state sinks in importance. 

The Stuarts resided at Westminster and governed Scotland 

through a deputy called a royal commissioner. This was a 

form of absentee rule that the Scotch did not enjoy. 

Scotland had never been a wealthy country. Only the riches 

of the soil had been developed, and the soil was poor. The 

civil wars that had raged in the seventeenth cen- Economic 

tury had ruined agriculture in many of the valleys, situation in 

and poverty was everywhere. In 1689 the religious 

conflict ceased, and the energy that had been given over to 

strife now sought employment in commerce. But the laws of 

1 Gardiner, 685; Innes, II, 171-175. 



428 THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE 

England stood in the way. English merchants had a monopoly 
of the colonial trade. In the Orient the East India Company 
was well established. Nor could Scotch merchants trade to 
advantage in England because of English tariff systems. But, 
on the other hand, when the larger kingdom went to war, Scot- 
land was forced to assist. 

In 1696 a number of merchants under the lead of William 
Paterson organized a Scotch East India Company. It was a 
The Darien part of their plan to locate a Scotch colony at 
venture. Darien on the Isthmus of Panama. In 1698 a 

colony was sent out, but the tropical climate and Spanish 
arms proved too much for the northerners and the venture was 
a failure. As the colony was unauthorized and located on 
Spanish territory, William III and the English government 
could render no assistance. The colony was ruined, the nation 
was discouraged, and William III (Wilful Willie), who had 
never been popular in Scotland, was now disliked more than 
ever. 

When the English parliament passed the Act of Settlement 

(1701) and fixed the succession on Sophia, no effort was made to 

secure joint action by the northern kingdom. Scotch pride 

felt the slight very keenly. The parliament in Edinburgh 

accepted Anne as queen ; but soon after passed an 
The Scotch . , - « . , . , . , 1 ., x1 

Act of Act of Security which provided that on the queen s 

Security. death the Scotch parliament should elect as her 

successor a Protestant member of the Stuart 
dynasty, but that this should not be the heir to the English 
crown, unless England should have already guaranteed the 
independence of Scotland and her parliament and the security 
of her colonies, trade, and religion. The war compelled 
Queen Anne to accept this act, and in 1704, just before the 
great victory at Blenheim, it became a law. 

England replied with an act that forbade the sale of Scotch 
English cattle and other products in England, unless the 

retaliation. northern kingdom should accept the Act of Set- 
tlement ; but this law was not to go into force before Christ- 



THE PENAL LAWS IN IRELAND 429 

mas, 1705. Meanwhile, both nations appointed commissioners 
to discuss plans for the union of the kingdoms. An agreement 
was finally reached, and in 1707 the kingdom of Great Britain 
came into legal existence. 

The English commissioners insisted on a "legislative union," 
a single parliament for the two kingdoms. The Scotch were 
forced to yield but in return they were given all The legislative 
the rights of trade enjoyed by Englishmen any- umon - 1707 - 
where in the world ; trade between the two countries was also 
made free. Each of the kingdoms retained its own church and 
its own system of law ; also its own set of officials to carry out 
the laws. In these respects the union was incomplete ; but in 
this way the separate nationalities were preserved ; the Scotch- 
man did not become an Englishman. 

It was hard for Scotland to accept the union. Andrew Fletcher, 
the author of the Act of Security, a Scotch republican and an 
intense patriot, fought the proposal with all his The " end of 
eloquence. Most of the nobility, however, sup- ana uidsang." 
ported the union, and it was accepted by fair majorities. Out- 
side parliament the feeling was intensely hostile. The English 
parliament passed the act with little debate. When the docu- 
ment was ratified and the union complete, the chancellor of 
Scotland is said to have remarked that here was the "end of 
an auld sang." 

403. The Penal Laws in Ireland. 1 The same year that 
brought peace and union to Great Britain, added strength 
to England, and economic freedom and prosperity to Scotland, 
marks the beginnings of a condition in Ireland that The situation 
was but slightly better than slavery. The treaty m Ireland - 
of Limerick was never carried out. The Anglican Protestants 
in Ireland were determined to stamp out rebellion and planned 
to do it by repression. This was attempted in a series of acts 
passed by the Dublin parliament and agreed to by the privy 
council in London. For some of these laws the great war was 
responsible, since it had been the experience of Britain that 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 343-344; Gardiner, 686-687; Kendall, in. 



430 THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE 

whenever England had serious difficulties the Irish would be 

sure to rise in rebellion. 

i. The Catholics were deprived of all political rights. First 

of all an oath of allegiance was prescribed for all office holders 

„ , ,. which no Catholic could take, as it contained a 
The Catholics 
are deprived denial of Catholic doctrine. The Irish parliament 

of political thus became an exclusively Protestant body. 
Eleven years later (1704), a similar oath was 
framed for those who wished to vote at parliamentary elec- 
tions ; and after that year no Catholic Irishman could vote : 
five-sixths of the populace was disfranchised. It was also 
enacted that only those could hold office who took the 
sacrament in the Anglican church. This closed all the offices 
to the dissenters as well. 

2. More Catholic land was confiscated. Although the 
Irish leaders believed that their lands were secured by the 
Confiscation treaty of Limerick, the government proceeded 
of land. to the third great confiscation. 1 More than a 
million acres were seized. Only one-seventh of the land re- 
mained to the Catholics, though they constituted more than 
three-fourths of the entire population. 

3. The Irish Catholics were deprived of the ordinary civil 
rights. A series of laws called the Penal Laws were enacted, 
The loss of some of which were in force for nearly a century, 
civil rights. These made it extremely difficult for any Roman 
Catholic to acquire and hold land ; he could not lease it for 
more than thirty-one years, and if a Protestant could prove 
that his profits exceeded one-third of the rent he could take it 
from him. The eldest son of a Catholic could get possession 
of his father's land by becoming a Protestant ; and in the 
same way a dissatisfied wife could get one-third of her 
husband's property and separate maintenance. No Catholic 
might teach in any school or act as the guardian of a child; 
and if a child professed Protestantism it had to be surrendered 
immediately to a Protestant guardian. Fire-arms no Catholic 

1 Review sec. 273; the second confiscation was in Cromwell's time. 



THE "AGE OF ANNE" 431 

was permitted to have; and if a Protestant offered him five 

) pounds for his horse he was forced to sell it. 

The penal laws were never strictly enforced ; the Protestants 

were too few and the native Irish too numerous. But they 

did not fail to emphasize the misery of a people „ . 

Emigration, 
that had been robbed of its land. Many of the 

Irish sought new homes in the colonies and thus began the 
stream of migration that has given so many millions of Irish 
and Scotch-Irish to the American republic. 

404. The Age of Anne in Literature. 1 The "Age of Anne" is 
a famous period in the history of English Literature. The early 
years of the eighteenth century produced no great dramas 
like those of the Elizabethan Age 2 and no epic poems like those 
of the Restoration. 3 It was, indeed, not wholly wanting in 
poetry, for Addison wrote readable poems and Pope's Rape of 
1 the Lock was written during Anne's reign. But An age of 
the "Age of Anne" was emphatically an age of prose in 
prose, not deep or thoughtful but delightfully 
clear and clever, and full of human interest. The period also 
had its more profound thinkers, but they were not numerous. 
Four men stand out prominently among the writers of this 
age: Swift, Defoe, Addison, and Berkeley the philosopher. 

The literary interest of the period centers in London. Here 
was the seat of government ; and in this period politics and 
literature were closely associated. Nearly all the Political 
writers of the time were fierce partisans and were pamphleteers, 
often employed as political pamphleteers. Addison, Swift, and 
Defoe all served in this capacity. A successful political pam- 
phleteer must have wide knowledge of current events, a 
thorough knowledge of human nature, especially of its weak- 
nesses, critical insight, and a lucid style. These writers possessed 
all these qualities, Swift in greater measure than 
Addison and Defoe. Jonathan Swift was an Angli- 
can priest born in Dublin but of English parentage. He was a 
strange, eccentric man, whose life was a bitter disappointment 

1 Gardiner, 692-695. 2 Review sec. 270. 3 Review sec. 365. 



432 THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE 

and closed in tragedy. For a time Swift was a Whig ; but in 
1 710 he entered the service of the Tories who had just come 
to power. He had hoped that his efforts would be rewarded 
with a bishopric but he received only a deanery in Dublin. 

Daniel Defoe * was a dissenter and consequently a Whig. 
His productivity was enormous. During Anne's reign he was 
chiefly interested in politics. After the Whigs had 
come into undisputed control with George I, he 
found time for other work and produced Robinson Crusoe 
(17 19), a story that is often regarded as the first English novel. 
Robinson Crusoe is, however, not exactly of that type ; the 
real novel- came about twenty years later with the writings of 
Richardson and Fielding. 

Another type of literature that belongs to the age is the 
periodical essay. This is remembered in connection with the 
Addison and Tattler and the Spectator of Addison and Steele. 
Steele. The Tattler began in 1709 and the Spectator two 

years later. They may have been suggested by Defoe's Review, 
a periodical that this versatile writer planned while in prison in 
1704. Joseph Addison rose higher than his contemporaries: 
he was secretary to the regency that governed England between 
Anne's death and the coming of George I. Later he served as 
secretary of state, and thus filled one of the highest offices in 
the government. 

Of the men who were busied with the deeper problems of the 

world, Sir Isaac Newton and George Berkeley were the most 

prominent. Most of Newton's scientific work has 

Isaac Newton. r . . . . 

already been referred to. During the reigns 01 

William and Anne he was largely engaged in public duties as 
member of parliament and master of the mint. Berkeley, 
like Dean Swift, was an Irish clergyman ; but he was more 
successful in life and finally got the reward that Swift longed 
George for. Berkeley was early attracted to scientific and 

Berkeley. philosophic problems and wrote a number of im- 

portant works. He is also to be remembered for his interest in 

1 Cheyney, No. 341. 2 Review sec. 367. 



THE LAST YEARS OF ANNE 



433 



the American colonies. He planned to found an Anglican uni- 
versity in the New World, an institution that was also to look 
after the spiritual welfare of the Indians. With the aid of Dean 
Swift he secured promises of financial assistance from the gov- 
ernment. He emigrated to New England and spent six years 
at Newport, Rhode Island. The promised assistance failed to 
come and the broken-hearted philosopher returned to England. 
His farm and his library he left to Yale College (1734). 

405. The Last Years of Anne. 1 Harley and Bolingbroke. 
In the spring of 17 14 the queen's health failed rapidly, and the 
problem of the succession took on renewed interest. The 
Tories were in power ; but many of their leaders were Jacobites, 
and it was doubted whether they would try to carry out the 
Act of Settlement which their own party had passed. In 1710 
the Whigs had been definitely defeated at the elections : two 
new men, both moderate Tories, now came into control of the 
government : Robert Harley and Henry St. John, Robert 
better known as Lord Bolingbroke. Harley was Harle y- 
a cousin of Mrs. Masham, whose influence he used to undermine 
the power of Marlborough and Godolphin. After Godolphin's 
dismissal, Harley became chief of Queen Anne's government, 
and remained as such for four years, till within a few days of 
the queen's death. Most of this time he held the impor- 
tant office of lord treasurer. Bolingbroke was a Lord 
younger, more brilliant, and more energetic man ; Boungbroke. 
he was an effective orator and an astute politician ; but he was 
restless, unreliable, and treacherous. It was he who negotiated 
the treaty of Utrecht. Bolingbroke was Harley's chief lieu- 
tenant, but he was also his chief rival. 

Though in a minority in the commons, the Whigs still con- 
trolled the house of lords. To secure a majority of his party 
in this body, Harley and his aids induced the p ack j ng t h e 
queen to create twelve new peers. In December, house of lords 
171 1, these new lords, one of whom was the insig- W1 
nificant Mr. Masham, took their seats, and Tory control was 

1 Masterman, 157-158. 



434 



THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE 



complete in all the departments of the government. It is 
worth remembering that this precedent for packing the house 
of lords was set by the Tories. In 1832 and again in 191 1 they 
had occasion to regret it ; for their opponents were able to 




Henry St. John, Lord Bolingbroke 



force legislation through a hostile house of lords by threatening 
to do what Harley and Bolingbroke had taught them to do. 

It was quite generally known that the elector George suspected 
the Tories of Jacobite sympathies and that he was already in 
alliance with the Whigs. The death of Anne would then mean 
the downfall of Harley's ministry. Harley was perplexed, for 
he did not know whether the Catholic James would be accept- 
able to the nation. Bolingbroke was for immediate action and 



SUMMARY 435 

forced the dismissal of his hesitating chief. For a few days he 
was at the head of the government and probably in- j aC obite 
tended to restore the Stuarts; but the queen died be- schemes, 
fore his plan was completed, and four days later, the electress Sophia 
having departed life a few weeks earlier, the privy council pro- 
claimed her son, George I, king of Great Britain (August 5, 1714). 
406. Summary. The period from the revolution of 1688 to 
the treaty of Utrecht was one of almost continuous warfare 
between England and France. In the great international 
problems of the time England had no direct interest ; still, 
the outcome of the two wars had important results R esu j ts of 
for the English nation and the British Empire, the war with 
England maintained her position as the greatest 0U1S 
naval power. Important additions were made to her empire 
both in America and in Europe. The war also emphasized 
the need of a closer union on the island of Great Britain and 
indirectly led to the union of 1707. It ruined the cause of the 
Stuart dynasty, for King James was a pensioner of the great 
enemy, Louis XIV. For the same reason the Tories felt com- 
pelled to pass the Act of Settlement, which provides that Prot- 
estant kings only shall rule in England. The Tory leaders 
were, however, not entirely faithful to this Act and the result 
was that on the death of Queen Anne power passed into the 
hands of the Whigs. The age was also a notable Progress of 
one in the economic and in the literary history of the age - 
England : it was the age of Paterson and the Bank of England ; 
of reforms in the coinage ; of new forms of industry brought in 
by the fugitive Huguenots; and it was the age of Addison, 
Defoe, Swift, and Steele. 

REFERENCES 

Commerce and finance. — Fletcher, Introductory History of England, II, 
i, 87-92; Innes, History of England, 534-540; Ransome, Advanced History of 
England, 688-691; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 524-526. 

The Spanish succession. — Innes, 526-530; Ransome, 700-702; Tout, 
507-508. 



436 THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE 

The Panama venture. — Fletcher, IT i, 248-250; Lang, Short History 
of Scotland, c. xxviii. 

The Union of England and Scotland. — Brown, Short History of Scot- 
land, 509-522; Cross, History of England, 660-662; Fletcher, II, i, 251-256; 
Innes, 555-560; Jenks, Parliamentary England, 124-129; Lang c. xxix; Ran- 
some, 714-718; Tout, 521-523. 

The last years of Queen Anne's reign: Utrecht and the succes- 
sion. — Fletcher, II, i, 140-148; Innes, 566-570; Oman, History of England, 
476-480; Ransome, 725-730. 

The "Penal laws" in Ireland. — Johnston and Spencer, Ireland's 
Story, c. xxiii; Lawless, Ireland, cc. xlv-xlvi. 



CHAPTER XX 
THE RULE OF THE WHIGS 

407. The Early Hanoverians. 1 George I waited more than 

a month before he set out for England. When he finally did 

arrive in his new kingdom, there was much display and much 

official rejoicing : the masses, however, showed little enthusiasm 

for the new king. George I, the "wee German lairdie" that 

the Scotch Jacobites sang about, was a middle- 

... George I. 

aged prince of moderate abilities and few personal 

attractions, who brought little to England but a set of Han- 
overian favorites, uncouth personal manners, and a dense 
ignorance of British affairs. He came to enjoy the new king- 
ship, and apparently he succeeded in his purpose. As gov- 
ernment is at best a bothersome affair, George I determined to 
have as little to do with it as possible. George II, who suc- 
ceeded his father in 1727, was a slight improvement 
as a ruler, but scarcely as a human being. The two 
Georges disliked each other most cordially and with good reason. 
In order to appear as unlike his sluggish father as possible, 
the younger George strove to become English and made con- 
stant, though not always discriminating, use of the English 
language. But he, too, was coarse, vulgar, rude in manners, 
and uneducated. Believing himself something of a military 
genius, he showed great interest in the army ; he was also 
anxious to have a larger share in the government of the kingdom ; 
but here his ministers balked him, and he was compelled to be 
satisfied with remaining a showy figurehead. 

408. The Jacobite Rising. 1715. It was not many months 
before the Hanoverians had become extremely unpopular. It 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 345-346. 
437 



438 THE RULE OF THE WHIGS 

seemed to many of the Jacobites that the time was surely ripe 
for a revolt in favor of the Pretender James. King George had 
The rising in been in England only a year when Jacobite par- 
the Highlands, tisans raised the standard of the Stuarts in the 
Highlands; a little later there was a rising in the northern 
counties of England. The Jacobite forces in Scotland were at 
first reasonably successful ; in November they fought an inde- 
cisive battle with the forces of the government at Sheriffmuir, 

where one half of each army defeated the opposing 
Sheriffmuir. ,-,,-,■ , e -^ i \ i 

half of the enemy s lorces. .But the next day the 

Jacobites in England were crushed at Preston not far from the 
border. Early in January the Pretender landed in Scotland, 
but he was too late in coming. Winter made operations dim- 
cult, and the religious questions came up continuously. The 
somewhat shy, silent man was not the sort of a leader that the 
Xhe Highlanders had expected ; James soon realized 

Pretender. that his cause was lost. In February he secretly 
left his Highland army and embarked for France. The rising 
melted away. 

409. Whigs and Whiggism. 1 For half a century the first 
two Georges bore the English crown. During this period the 
actual rulers of the kingdom were the chiefs of the Whig party, 
The Whig of whom Sir Robert Walpole was the most notable, 
doctrine. The cardinal doctrine of Whiggism was that 

parliament and not the king should be the controlling force and 
ultimate ruler of the nation. With the earlier Hanoverians on 
the throne, this doctrine came to be a political fact : George I 
and his son made no attempt to oppose the will of parliament. 
The Whig The Whig leaders were chiefly peers or members of 
leaders. noble families ; their aim seems to have been to 

center as much power and influence as possible in the house of 
lords. The peers were great landowners and were influential 
with their tenants, some of whom had a right to vote ; they 
also controlled a large number of English boroughs ; conse- 
quently they were able to get their younger sons, their friends, 

1 Masterman, 159-160. 



CABINET GOVERNMENT 439 

or their faithful henchmen elected to membership in the house 
of commons. Practically, therefore, Whiggism in the eight- 
eenth century meant the rule of the nation by a limited number 
of aristocratic families. 

410. Cabinet Government. 1 It was while monarchy was 
weak and the Whig leaders all powerful that England developed 
her modern system of government, which is called the cabinet 
system. This form of government is one of the most important 
contributions that England has made to the science of politics ; 
it has been widely copied and in some form has been accepted 
by nearly all the states of Europe. Under cabinet rule the 
actual control of the governmental policies is in the hands of 

a group of the more important ministers (now 

. • 7 . , x , • „ The cabinet, 

about twenty in number), who act as a unit on all 

matters of real importance. The chief of the cabinet is 

the prime minister. The king appoints the prime minister, 

but in this he exercises little choice ; for custom demands that 

he shall select the recognized leader (if such there be) of the 

party that has the majority in the house of commons. The 

prime minister selects his colleagues; he chooses them from 

among the chiefs of his own party ; and to each The prime 

one he assigns some important office or depart- ^nister- 

ment, such as the exchequer (finance), the admiralty (navy), the 

foreign office, or some other department. All the members of 

the cabinet must be members of parliament, in the deliberations 

of which they take a leading part. They are also members of 

the privy council, and every formal meeting of the cabinet 

at which any action is taken is regarded as a meeting of the 

privy council. 

The cabinet system was of long and slow growth. During 

the early years of the Restoration period, a small group of 

officials under the leadership of Clarendon acted D eve i opment 

in a measure as a cabinet council : the king con- of the cabinet 

suited them as a group. After the fall of Clarendon councU - 

the five members of the Cabal formed a similar body, though it 

1 Masterman, 161-167, 227-229; Tuell and Hatch, Nos. 71-72. 



44-0 



THE RULE OF THE WHIGS 





;.■■'■■ ; 


mmM 


PP^ J, If; 

j 

-^" r if I* lil li ! 

. ! 




L 1 f 



No. io Downing Street 

The official residence of the prime minister. The English cabinet meets 
in this building. 

had no recognized head. The king was still in control; he 
could ask the advice of these ministers singly or as a body, or 
he might refuse to consult them. After the rise of parties 
the kings very soon found it necessary to select all their more 
important ministers from the same party : the Whig Junto was 






ROBERT WALPOLE 441 

such a group of four able and influential ministers on whom 

William III for some time depended for assistance and counsel 

(1693-1694). This was, therefore, a nearer approach to a 

modern cabinet ; but William III was his own prime minister. 

As he was a foreigner and wholly unacquainted with English 

methods and politics, George I was compelled to leave all the 

affairs of government to his ministers. These were all Whigs 

and the more prominent of them formed a cabinet council in 

which the business of the state was discussed and outlined. In 

this council the king should have presided ; but he knew no 

English and there seems to have been only one prominent Whig 

politician in England at the time who was able to converse 

with the king in German. It was, therefore, only natural that 

he should prefer to remain absent. For some years there was 

no recognized chief in the cabinet; but finally, in 1721, Robert 

Walpole assumed the leadership and retained it 

r ttt 1 f , r Robert Wal- 

for twenty-one years. Walpole was the first po ie, the first 

English prime minister: he directed the general English prime 

r .1,-1,. minister, 

course 01 government, presided in the cabinet, 

secured the appointment or dismissal of his colleagues, and 
presented and defended the measures of the government in the 
house of commons. He distinctly disclaimed the title of prime 
minister, doubtless because the term was already in current 
use and meant the chief adviser of the French king, who was 
an absolute monarch, which George I was not. 

411. Robert Walpole. 1 Robert Walpole was a country 
gentleman from Norfolk. This county was one of the more 
strenuously Puritan districts in the century before, but the 
Walpoles do not appear to have inherited the character of 
Puritan spirit. Robert Walpole was good natured Wal P° le - 
and amiable ; but like his king he was coarse and rude in speech 
and manners. His most important characteristic was common 
sense ; he had no ideals and no dreams ; he was never stubborn 
and always knew when it was advisable to yield to the opposi- 
tion. When he became prime minister he had already served 

1 Cheyney, No. 352. 



442 



THE RULE OF THE WHIGS 



a long apprenticeship in public life ; for nearly twenty years 
he had spent most of his time in public office. 

412. The "South Sea Bubble." 1 Walpole's opportunity 
came with the failure of the South Sea Company in 1 721. It 
will be remembered that 
by the treaty of Utrecht 
England was allowed 
certain commercial 
privileges in Spanish 
America. The South 
The South Sea Sea Com- 
Company. pany was 

organized to carry on 
trade in these new fields. 
It was believed that the 
venture would be very 
profitable, and the stock 
of the company was soon 
in great demand. The 
price per share rose to 
many times the original 
value. The company 
also arranged with the 
government to look after 
the details of the na- 
tional debt : it was to pay all the claims against the national 
exchequer and would settle with the government later. When 
a debtor came to the South Sea offices with a bill against the 
state, the company tried to induce him, and often successfully, 
to accept payment in the stock of the enterprise instead of in 
cash. In this way a large amount of stock was disposed of. 

In 1 72 1 the scheme suddenly collapsed. The king's ministry 
Collapse of fell with it, for it was responsible for the deal by 
the bubble. which so many of the national debtors had been 
induced to invest in worthless stock and thus had been de- 

1 Gardiner, 71 1-7 13. 




Sir Robert Walpole 

From an engraving by Trotter. 



WALPOLE'S POLITICAL METHODS 443 

frauded of their dues. Many of the ministers had also specu- 
lated heavily in the stocks of the company. Walpole had pub- 
licly opposed the company, though he, too, had bought heavily 
while the prices were low and sold when the price was high. 
He had a well deserved reputation as a financier and was 
accordingly called in to save what was possible from the wreck- 
age. In this he was fairly successful ; something, at least, he 
was able to save for the shareholders. At the same time he 
made secure his own position and that of his party. 

413. Walpole's Political Methods. 1 Walpole was an able 
though not a remarkable statesman ; he possessed the sort of 
abilities that the time required, and he was careful not to antag- 
onize the king. In his dealings with parliament 
he employed bribery to an astonishing extent, morals in the 

Political morals in the eighteenth century were ei ghteenth 

. century, 

low ; there was much corruption in public office ; 

honesty seems to have been exceptional. 2 Members of parlia- 
ment received no salaries ; but there were many members, 
often younger sons of noble families, whose income was slight 
or insufficient for their supposed needs, and these found it diffi- 
cult to resist the tempter who offered money or favors for a 
vote or influence. Walpole reduced bribery to a Bribery in 
system: he knew whom it was necessary to buy Walpole's day. 
and how much to offer ; when his administration was investi- 
gated soon after his fall from power, the officers who controlled 
the secret service funds of the government refused to testify. 
At one time he is said to have pointed out a group of members in 
parliament with the remark that "all these men have their 
price." 

In Walpole's general policy there were two chief purposes: 
to secure and strengthen the position of the new dynasty 
and to promote economic prosperity in the nation. Policies of 
This was a policy that also promised the greatest Wal P° le - 
profit to the Whigs. It was commerce that Walpole was most 
anxious to promote, and commerce would be of direct benefit 

1 Gardiner, 713-716; Innes, II, 199-201. 2 Kendall, No. 103. 



444 THE RULE OF THE WHIGS 

to the mercantile classes in the cities, who were strongly Whig. 
On the Hanoverian dynasty the Whigs depended for their con- 
trol of politics ; should the dynasty fall and the Stuarts return, 
the Tories would return to power. 

414. Walpole's Foreign Policy. The prime minister saw 
clearly that what England needed most of all was a long period 
Foreign of peace, both at home and with her neighbors, 

policy. During the one hundred and eleven years of Stuart 

rule, the nation had enjoyed almost no real rest : it was a period 
of much foreign warfare and still more discontent and turmoil 
at home, even civil war and revolution. After the coming of 
the Hanoverians, England had nearly thirty years of compara- 
tive peace. Many of the Whig leaders wished to continue the 
policy of William III, which meant constant interference in 
European affairs. But Walpole, whose motto was "let sleep- 
ing dogs lie," 1 successfully resisted them until 1739. He 
devoted all his energies to the maintenance of the treaty of 
Utrecht and the promotion of peace in Europe. In these efforts 
he had the assistance of the chief minister in France, the aged 
Cardinal Cardinal Fleury, who also believed in European 

Fleury. peace. Louis XIV had died in 171 5 ; his successor 

Louis XV was a child, and the new king's uncle, Philip of 
Orleans, the Regent of France, was induced to join England, 
the Netherlands, and Austria in an alliance to maintain the 
settlement at Utrecht. For some time after the great war, 
Spain was the disturbing element in Europe : in the treaty 
Ambitions of she had lost some of her most valued possessions, 
Spam. which she was eager to win back ; and her king, 

Philip V, though he had agreed that Spain and France should 
not be united, could not forget that he was a grandson of the 
great Louis, while the little Louis XV was a great-grandson. 
An aggressive English prime minister could easily have brought 
on another great war. Walpole kept up a small standing 
army, though not a very efficient one ; to the navy he paid so 
little attention that the ships soon became unseaworthy. Wal- 

1 Innes, II, 194-199. 



WALPOLE'S DOMESTIC POLICY 445 

pole kept the clogs of war quiet a long time, but when trouble 
with Spain finally became unavoidable, the nation w T as utterly 
unprepared to meet the enemy. 

415. Walpole's Domestic Policy. There were two danger- 
ous elements in England that the prime minister was also 
anxious not to stir up : the Anglican churchmen and the dis- 
senters. Lord Shaftesbury, the founder of the Whig party, 
was a believer in toleration, and the Whigs in the main con- 
tinued faithful to this principle. Some of the Waipole and 
leaders were even willing to repeal the laws, the the dissenters. 
Test Act and the rest, that kept the dissenters from holding 
office. 1 Many dissenters, whose principles were somewhat 
elastic, had tried to avoid these laws by an occasional visit to 
an Anglican church, w T here they heard the service through and 
partook of the communion : this was called "occa- "Occasional 
sional conformity." This practice exasperated the conf ormity." 
Tories, and toward the close of Queen Anne's reign they 
succeeded in passing a measure to forbid it. Eight years later 
(1719) the Whigs repealed the Occasional Conformity Act, and 
dissenters could now enter office by occasionally taking the 
"test." But the Test Act was still law, and a large section of 
the Whig party refused to allow its repeal. At the same time it 
was impossible to close the offices entirely to the dissenters. 
In 1727 Waipole induced parliament to pass the Indemnity 
Act by which dissenters who had held office in indemnity 
defiance of law were granted a full pardon. This acts * 
strange law was reenacted annually for one hundred years. 

The churchmen hated and feared the dissenters ; and the 
favors that the Whigs showed to their opponents drove the 
Anglican clergy almost to a man into the Tory party. Many 
of the priests even became Jacobites. The govern- T aC0D i tism 
ment consequently found considerable difficulty among the 
in filling the higher offices in the church, especially c urc men * 
the bishoprics, w r ith suitable men, that is churchmen with Whig 
principles. The Whigs believed firmly in the spoils system; 

1 Review sees. 352, 359. 



446 THE RULE OF THE WHIGS 

and furthermore, a Tory bishop meant another Tory member 
of the house of lords. Occasionally Walpole was able to find 
"Political candidates of unquestioned excellence, such as the 
bishops." philosopher George Berkeley ; but on the whole 

the Whig bishops of the eighteenth century were a real grievance 
to the church : many of them were incapable and lacking 
in spiritual interest. With the Tory priests, whose spiritual 
shepherds they were supposed to be, they were frequently on 
hostile terms. It is not strange that the English church in the 
eighteenth century suffered a marked decline. 

416. Scotland. Toward Scotland Walpole pursued a policy 
of conciliation. The union was extremely unpopular north 
of the border, especially was there great dissatisfaction with 
The grievances the new forms of taxation, which to the Scotch 
of the Scotch. a pp earec [ like the impositions of a foreign govern- 
ment. Scotland had, indeed, forty-five members in the 
house of commons ; but these were all in the pay of the govern- 
ment, or rather of Walpole, and felt compelled to consent 
to Walpole's financial measures. The government of Great 
Britain derived most of its revenues from three forms of taxes : 
customs, excise, and stamped paper. The customs taxes were 

• . old and well established and levied chiefly on im- 

Taxation. ' . . J 

ported goods. The excise was introduced at the 

Restoration, and was a tax levied on certain articles manu- 
factured in the country. Then as now alcoholic liquors were a 
favorite subject of this tax. Stamped paper had to be used 
for nearly every form of legal document and could be purchased 
from government officials only. The chief grievance was a tax 
on malt, which in 1723 was rendered still more odious by a tax of 
sixpence on every barrel of ale. The new levy produced a ter- 
rific outcry in the Lowland cities ; in Edinburgh the feeling rose 

to the point of rioting. 1 The brewers of Edin- 
The excise. , , , - , , , , 

burgh agreed to brew no more ale, and they kept 

up the strike for a week ; they resumed brewing only when 

ordered to do so by the courts. The tax remained, but it did 

1 Tnnes, II, 201-206. 



SCOTLAND 447 

not prove very profitable north of the border, for the Scotch dis- 
covered that whisky made an effective substitute for beer and 
ale, and the producing of malt liquors decreased. 

After the Jacobite rising of 1715, the Whigs took up the 
problem of how to prevent future troubles in the Highlands. 1 




A Highland Cottage 

The many revolts in that restless region had been due, not so 
much to the Stuart partisanship, as to rivalries and Difficulties 
jealousies among the various tribes and clans, in the 
In the southwestern Highlands, occupying the isles lg 
and peninsulas of Argyle, lived the powerful clan Campbell. 
Between the Campbells and the neighboring clans to the north 
and northeast there were feuds and enmities centuries old. 
The Campbells were uncompromising Presbyte- The 
rians and Whigs like their Lowland neighbors to Cam P bells - 
the south ; consequently, they were firm partisans of the Han- 
overian dynasty. The hostility of the other clans naturally 
drove these into the Jacobite camp. The important thing was 
to allay this feeling of hostility. Walpole sent a force of Eng- 

1 Kendall, No. 112. 



448 THE RULE OF THE WHIGS 

lish soldiers into the Highlands to build roads, bridges, and forts, 
internal The work began in 1725 and continued for eleven 

improvements. vears ; in all forty bridges were built. The pur- 
pose of these roads was to make it possible for the king's 
armies to move more swiftly through this rugged country in 
times of rebellion. They served, however, a higher purpose : 
the roads made it easier for the Highlanders to reach the Low- 
lands and dispose of their surplus products. Improved facil- 
ities for travel helped to develop new interests and brought a 
wider knowledge of the world. As a result the intensity of 
clan feeling began to subside, and the Highlands in time became 
as peaceful as any other part of Britain. 

417. Colonial Growth. The treaty of Utrecht had added 
large areas to the British Empire : Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, 
and the Hudson Bay country were the regions acquired in 
Britain in the the New World. Each of these had its peculiar 
New World. value : Newfoundland in its fisheries ; the Hudson 
Bay country in its furs ; Nova Scotia chiefly as a protection 
for New England. The truly valuable parts of the British 
Empire in North America were, however, the twelve colonies 
along the Atlantic coast. The first half of the eighteenth 
century was a period of great importance in the history of these 
colonies. Before 1700 they were still almost exclusively 
English ; after that year two new nationalities came in great 
numbers : the Germans and the Irish. 

The coming of the Germans can be traced to the devas- 
tation of the Rhenish Palatinate by the armies of Louis XIV 
German immi- in 1689; thousands of homeless Germans drifted 
gration. down the Rhine and across to England, whence the 

greater number were sent on to the colonies. But the move- 
ment did not cease with the war. The migration continued, 
and by 1727 the stream had grown to great strength; it con- 
tinued for several decades. Many of these Germans settled 
among the foothills and in the valleys of the Appalachian 
range, especially in Pennsylvania, though they were also nu- 
merous in New York, Maryland, and Virginia. 






COLONIAL GROWTH 449 

Some years after the beginning of the German migration, 
about 1 71 5, the Scotch-Irish began to leave Ulster for the 
American colonies. The toleration that the Prot- Scotch-Irish 
estant dissenters enjoyed in England was not ex- emigration, 
tended to Ireland ; and the Ulstermen were also annoyed by the 
restrictions on the Irish trade. 1 During the reign of George II 
the Scotch-Irish immigration was keeping pace with the German. 
Like the Germans the Ulstermen settled in the mountain valleys, 
only farther inland and with a tendency to drift farther south- 
ward. In the years 1727-1728 there were failures of crops in Ire- 
land with famine as the result. Thousands of Catholic Irish 
now joined their Presbyterian neighbors in the New World. 2 

The last of the thirteen seaboard colonies was founded during 
the age of Walpole. An English officer, James Oglethorpe, 
had become interested in the English debtor class Founding of 
and proposed to settle a colony of them in America. Geor s ia - 1733 - 
The government received the proposal favorably. Between 
the Carolinas and Florida there was a wide stretch of unoccu- 
pied territory which the English claimed and wished to have 
settled ; farther inland lived the great Cherokee Indian nation, 
and the English government was interested in efforts to divert 
the Cherokee trade from Spanish to English merchants. The 
government of Robert Walpole helped to finance the new col- 
ony, which was named Georgia in honor of George II. Early 
in 1733 the founder appeared in America with his colonists and 
founded the settlement of Savannah. 

The movement across the ocean to the new lands was espe- 
cially strong during the third and fourth decades of the century, 
the period of Walpole's ministry. In less than half The growth 
a century (1 700-1 740), the population of the in colonial 
colonies increased from 250,000 to 1,000,000. It popu 
is to be remembered that a large part of this population was not 
enthusiastic for English law or the Hanoverian kings. It is 
also to be noted that the movement forced the frontier farther 
west and southwest toward the settlements of France and 

1 Innes, II, 190-194. 2 Review sec. 403. 



450 THE RULE OF THE WHIGS 

Spain. It seemed to many Englishmen that the colonists 
ought to be taxed as were all the other subjects of the king. 
Walpole, however, thought differently ; his experience with 
the Scotch had probably taught him that taxation by distant 
authority was difficult to enforce. 

418. Opposition to Walpole. 1 Bolingbroke. Walpole had 
not been long in control before a group began to form in parlia- 
ment in opposition to his regime. This opposition was wholly 
factious ; it stood for no principle of government : opposition to 
the prime minister was the only bond that united the members of 
the group, and they opposed almost every measure that he pro- 
posed, whether good or bad. Walpole had no desire for strong 
men in his cabinet ; if an able and independent man by accident 
got into a ministerial office, he was sure to be dismissed before 
many years. The parliamentary opposition was made up to 
some extent of Tories, but chiefly of Whig politicians whom Wal- 
pole had forced out of office, and of young ambitious members, 
who yearned for official appointments, but felt that the door of 
opportunity was closed as long as the prime minister was in 
Puiteney and charge. The leader of the opposing Whigs was Wil- 
Bohngbroke. ]j am p u lteney, a brilliant orator whom Walpole had 
compelled to leave the ministry. But the intellectual chief of 
these " Patriots," as they called themselves, was Lord Bolingbroke. 

After the accession of the Hanoverians, Bolingbroke found it 
unsafe to remain in England, and early in 1715 he fled to the 
Continent and joined the Pretender, whom he served for a 
few months as secretary of state. 2 Realizing that the cause of 
the Stuarts was not likely to succeed, he lost interest in his new 
sovereign and made plans to return to England. Soon after 
his flight he had been attainted by parliament ; but in 1723, two 
years after the beginning of Walpole's rule, he was pardoned, 
though not restored to his seat in the house of lords. Two years 
"The later he joined with Pulteney in the publication of 

Craftsman." y^ g Craftsman, a comic newspaper, the purpose of 
which was to fight Walpole and hold him up to ridicule. 

1 Gardiner, 720-722, 728-729. 2 Review sec. 405. 



OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE. BOLINGBROKE 451 




The House of Commons in 1742 
Robert Walpole is addressing the house. From a contemporary drawing by Gravelot. 



452 THE RULE OF THE WHIGS 

419. Walpole and George II. Two years later George I 
died (1727). Since any one who enjoyed the confidence of the 
father would necessarily incur the hostility of the son, it was 
believed that Walpole's power had come to a close. Steps had 
actually been taken to displace him ; but George II soon found 
that Walpole was indispensable and restored him almost imme- 
diately to his office. At court the most influential person was 
Queen Queen Caroline, a woman of great tact and excel- 
Carolme. } ent sense m practical affairs. Little King George, 
who expressed the greatest contempt for any man who was 
ruled by his wife, was completely under the queen's control. 
Queen Caroline was a firm friend and supporter of Walpole. 
After her death (1737) his position at once became less stable. 
Two years earlier, the opposition to the prime minister had 

_. received a notable addition in William Pitt, a young 

William Pitt . . 

joins the man of twenty-six, who sat as the representative 

opposition. Q £ o^ s arurrij a borough that was no longer in- 
habited. Pitt with five or six others of about the 
same age formed a group that Walpole called the "Boys;" all 
these joined Pulteney and his "Patriots." 

420. The Fall of Walpole. The Spanish War. In the 
year of the queen's death, London merchants complained to 
parliament that the coast guards of Spain were unduly officious 
in their search for smugglers in the waters of the West Indies. 
Trouble with According to the treaty of Utrecht England could 
Spanish coast send a single ship to Panama every year ; but the 

Spanish colonists were eager for English goods, and 
the British merchants paid little attention to the treaty. Wal- 
pole realized that English smugglers had no rights in foreign 
waters and hoped to satisfy Spain ; but the British nation was 
tired of monotonous peace and called for revenge. There was 
at the time an English sea captain by the name of Jenkins who 
asserted that some years earlier, when returning from the Eng- 
Captain lish colony of Jamaica, he had been caught by a 

Jenkins' ear. Spanish coast guard and had suffered the loss of an 
ear. This ear he carried about wrapped in cotton. Whether 



THE AGE OF WALPOLE 



453 



Captain Jenkins ever lost his ear or not is uncertain ; but when 
he told his story in the house of commons, English passions 
were roused and Walpole was compelled to declare war against 
Spain. 

The War of Jenkins' Ear began in 1739 ; it soon became con- 
fused with a greater conflict, the War of the Austrian Succession, 
and is almost lost sight of as a separate war. Eng- Th w f 
land had a few successes but none of decided im- the Austrian 
portance. When peace was finally made, England succession - 
failed to get what she went to war for. The enemies of Wal- 
pole, who had forced him to undertake a war that he did not 
believe in, now blamed him for the failure to crush Spain in a 
few naval expeditions. In 1742 Walpole finally Fall of Wai- 
resigned and the leadership of the cabinet passed pole - 1742 - 
into the hands of the learned Lord Carteret, who had been able 
to speak German with George I. 

421. The Age of Walpole. While Walpole ruled in Eng- 
land, the nation fought no great war : no new territories were 
added to the Empire ; the British parliament passed no great 
statutes ; and nothing was accomplished along the line of social 
improvement. The period is none the less of great importance ; 
it was an age of constant growth in many fields of life. The 
American colonies increased immensely in population and one 
new colony was founded. The idea that the union was desir- 
able penetrated the Highlands. Wealth was accumulating in 
the English towns. Perhaps the most important development 
was the formation of the modern cabinet. The power of the 
sovereign passed to the prime minister and his colleagues in the 
cabinet ; but Walpole realized that no cabinet p rogress in 
could exist without the support of the commons the age of 
and he resigned when he had lost that support. a P° e - 
The power was, therefore, virtually transferred to the house of 
commons. This transfer of power to the representatives of the 
nation was Robert Walpole's great achievement. 



454 THE RULE 0F THE WHIGS 

REFERENCES 

The rising of 1715. — Brown, Short History of Scotland, 522-528; 
Fletcher, Introductory History of England, II, i, 257-262; Innes, History of 
England, 571-575; Oman, History of England, 486-490; Tout, Advanced His- 
tory of Great Britain, 539-541. ' 

The South Sea bubble. — Cross, History of England, 686-688; Innes, 
578-581; Jenks, Parliamentary England, 140-144; Oman, 491-492. 

Beginnings of the cabinet system. — Beard, Introduction to the English 
Historians, 594-607 (Bagehot); Innes, 581-585; Jenks, 92-97, 114-119. 

Political methods of Walpole and the Whigs. — Beard, 466-477 
(Morley); Fletcher, II, i, 154-157; Jenks, 144-154; Tout, 546-550. 

Policies of Robert Walpole. — Fletcher, II, i, 170-174; Innes, 586-591. 

Progress in the Scotch Highlands. — Brown, Short History of Scotland, 
557-565. 



CHAPTER XXI 
THE AGE OF PITT 

422. The New Age. About 1740 a new age began in the 
history of England and of Europe. The men of peace were 
passing from power: Robert Walpole fell in 1742; Cardinal 
Fleury the following year. The devotees of war- Passing of the 
fare were coming into control of important govern- men of peace, 
ments : Frederick the Great became king of Prussia in 1740; 
Maria Theresa inherited the Austrian lands the same year; 
while by nature the great Hapsburg queen did not love war as 
Frederick did, circumstances made her a constant Frederick II 
disturber of European peace. In England William and Maria 
Pitt was rising to influence. Pitt never went out eresa - 
with an army ; but in the management of a great war he has, 
perhaps, had no superior. In 1740 a great series of wars began 
which with intermissions of unstable peace continued till 1815. 

423. The Austrian Succession. The problem in 1740 was 
whether a woman could inherit the possessions of the Hapsburg 
dynasty. These possessions were a group of states, The Austrian 
kingdoms, and duchies, of each of which the Aus- inheritance, 
trian monarch was the direct ruler. He was also emperor. 
Maria Theresa was the heiress of Charles VI. It was clear that 
she could not hold the German imperial title (she desired that 
for her husband) ; but the rulers of Europe had agreed to sup- 
port her claim to all the various states controlled by the Austrian 
dynasty. 

This arrangement was upset by Frederick of Prussia who 
seized Silesia, one of the Hapsburg possessions to Frederick's 
which the Prussian kings had an old but somewhat seizure of 
doubtful claim. Soon France joined Prussia in the 
war against her old Austrian enemy. George II was a parti- 

455 



456 THE AGE OF PITT 



san of the Austrian queen ; and after France attacked her 
George had the English nation with him : it was Maria There- 
sa's father whom William III and Marlborough had planned to 
place on the Spanish throne forty years before. Another factor 
in the situation was Spain, with which England at the time was 
righting the tedious and uninteresting war of Jenkins' Ear. 
Since the peace of Utrecht the rulers of Spain and France were 
The Bourbon Dotn °* tne Bourbon family. In 1733 the two 
family kings entered into what was called the Bourbon 

compact. family compact, a secret treaty of alliance which 

in some degree bound the two nations to united action in case 
of a European war. The compact was renewed after ten years, 
and again in 1759. The great powers of western Europe were 
thus grouped into two hostile camps : Spain, France, and Prus- 
sia against England, Austria, and the Netherlands. 

424. England and the War of the Austrian Succession. 
George II had at last an opportunity to distinguish himself in 
warfare. Some personal bravery "dapper King George" actu- 
ally possessed ; but of generalship he was absolutely innocent. 
England did not enter the war at its beginning : but Hanover 
was fighting on the side of Maria Theresa, and George hastened 
George II in to the electorate. At Dettingen he was present 
Hanover. m a battle against the French, and his soldiers won 

the day. The war continued to 1748 when it was ended by 
the treaty of Aix la Chapelle. English armies fought chiefly 
in the Netherlands but had little success ; on the sea, however, 
England was still winning victories. Admiral Anson repeated 
the great exploit of Francis Drake in the days of Elizabeth : x 
Admiral Anson w ^ tn a sma ll ^ eet °f seven badly equipped and 
circumnavi- poorly manned vessels he rounded Cape Horn, 

took some valuable Spanish prizes in the Pacific 
Ocean and returned to England by way of the Cape of Good 

Hope in 1744, after an absence of nearly four years. 

Admiral Vernon had some slight successes nearer 
home : in his fleet served Lawrence Washington, the older 

1 Review sec. 265. 






THE RISING OF '45 457 

brother of George Washington, and in honor of his commander 
he named his residence Mt. Vernon. 

When the war closed Maria Theresa was allowed to keep 
most of her possessions; but the loss of Silesia to "that 
wicked man" Frederick and of certain Italian districts to 
Spain gave Austria a pretext for another war which came 
eight years later. England received nothing for her outlay and 
her troubles. 

425. The Rising of '45. 1 Soon after England had officially 
entered the war, the exiled Stuarts began to plan for a rising 
in their favor. "King" James III, whose capital The << young 
was now in Rome, had little faith in the venture Pretender " in 
and did not sanction the activities of his son Charles 
Edward, the "Young Pretender." With a few followers Prince 
Charles landed in the western Highlands and called upon the 
clans to rally about the old standard. The chiefs responded 
with some reluctance ; but a considerable force was collected 
nevertheless. 2 Prince Charles proclaimed his father king and 
marched upon the old capital. Edinburgh had gained much 
in an economic sense by the Union with England ; but this did 
not compensate for the loss of prestige that it had once enjoyed 
as a national capital ; and the old city rejoiced in the presence 
of the prince. The government sent a small army against the 
Pretender which he met and crushed at Preston- _ 

Prestonpans. 

pans not far from Edinburgh. With a consider- 
able force the prince now proceeded to invade England and 
came as far as Derby in the center of the kingdom. But here 
he found large forces to meet him and a retreat became neces- 
sary. This continued into the northern part of Scotland and 
closed with the defeat of Culloden Moor (1746). 3 The defeat at 
The Pretender, after wandering about in the High- Culloden 
lands for some time, finally escaped to the Conti- 
nent. No later effort was made to revive the Stuart cause; 

1 Review sec. 408. 

2 Bates and Coman, 358-360 (Lady Nairn); Innes, II, 208-210. 

3 Bates and Coman, 360-361 (Burns, Culloden). 



458 THE AGE OF PITT 

the son of James III, Cardinal York, or Henry IX, as he claimed 
The last of to be, was glad in the last years of his life to accept 
the Stuarts. a p ens i n from George III. 

426. The Rule of the Pelhams. After the fall of Walpole, 
Lord Carteret conducted the government for two years ; but 
he was forced to retire and the English administration fell into 
Pelham as tne contr °l °f tne Pelhams. Henry Pelham became 
prime prime minister in 1744 and served as such till his 

death ten years later. He was a minister of the 
Walpole type ; l like his great predecessor he was an advocate 
of peace and struggled hard against renewal of warfare after 
the treaty of 1748. Like Walpole, too, he understood and 
practiced the art of corrupting members of parliament. In 
this work he had able assistance from his more famous brother 
The Duke of Thomas, duke of Newcastle. Newcastle had 
Newcastle. served in Walpole's cabinet and was prominent in 
the English ministry for more than forty years. He was an 
able and crafty politician, but as a statesman he was a failure. 
He is said to have been suprised to learn that New England was 
not an island. Newcastle was always running about, but he 
accomplished very little. His wealth was large, and he spent 
it freely to maintain his position in the government and to 
secure favorable action on the measures of the cabinet in 
parliament. 

427. The "Diplomatic Revolution. ,, Scarcely had the War 
of the Austrian Succession closed before the rulers of Europe 
began to prepare for a new war. The eight years that followed 
the treaty of Aix la Chapelle witnessed a "diplomatic revolu- 
The French- tion : " the two rival dynasties, the Hapsburg and 
Austrian the Bourbon, those of Austria and France, which 

had fought each other for generations, now unex- 
pectedly formed an alliance. This was the work of Maria 
Theresa, who was anxious to detach France and Spain from her 
enemy, Frederick II of Prussia, and in this way to form a new 
combination of European powers. France, on her side, real- 

1 Innes, II, 215-219 



WAR IN INDIA 459 

ized that the time was near when she would have to try con- 
clusions with England in the colonial field. In North America, 
in the West Indies, and in India the possessions of England and 
France lay almost side by side. The Austrian proposals were 
accepted and the alliance was sealed by the marriage of the 
Dauphin Louis to Maria Theresa's daughter, Marie Antoinette. 
428. War in India. In India the early power of Portugal had 
been destroyed ; but neither the Dutch, the English, nor the 
French, who competed for commercial supremacy Europeans 
in the Orient, had been able to make much head- in India ' 
way. In 1720, however, there came to India a man whose mind 
was constantly developing large plans and who possessed unu- 
sual abilities as a leader and organizer, the Frenchman Joseph 
Dupleix. Dupleix was sent out as an official of the Dupleix 
French East India Company and in time rose to 
become governor-general of the company's possessions in India. 
He was in the East for thirty-four years and with the feeble 
resources that a niggardly administration in Paris placed at his 
disposal he brought the power of France in India to a point 
where it completely overshadowed that of the English rivals. 

The English East India Company was operating chiefly at 
three points : Bombay high up on the western coast of Hindu- 
stan ; Madras on the southeastern coast in a region called the 
Carnatic ; and at the mouth of the Ganges in the The English 
Bengal country. The region of greatest activity EasUndia 
was the Coromandel coast about Madras. Pondi- 
cherri, the capital of the French empire in India, is only about 
ninety miles distant from Madras. But the influence of Pon- 
dicherri extended farther inland than that of Madras, for the 
French understood the art of conciliating and interesting the 
natives as the English did not. 

During the War of the Austrian Succession the French seized 
Madras (1746) and English power in southern India seemed 
doomed; but in the treaty of Aix la Chapelle French suc- 
Madras was restored to the English in return for cessesin n * a ' 
Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, which had been taken by 



4 6o THE AGE OF PITT 

the New England colonists in 1745. The treaty was followed 
by some years of peace in Europe but none in India. Dupleix 
employed these years in strengthening his alliance with the 
native princes; and in 1751 it looked as if European influence 
in the Orient was to center at Pondicherri. 

But in that year a man came into prominence in southern 
India who in many respects was greater than Dupleix. Robert 
Clive had this advantage over his rival : he was a 
great soldier, which Dupleix was not. Dupleix's 
father had sent him to sea to cure him of his lazy and dreamy 
habits : Clive was sent to India because in his youthful way- 
wardness he made life a misery for his neighbors in England. 
He held an important clerkship at Madras but soon found his 
way into the East India Company's army. In 1751 the Eng- 
lish took the offensive : Clive seized the important city of 
Arcot which lies between Madras and Pondicherri and held it 
Clive seizes against a large native army assisted by the French. 
Arcot. 1751. F rom that day French prestige in the East began 
to wane'. Three years later Dupleix was recalled : the French 
company was anxious for peace so that trade might revive, 
while Dupleix was using the company's energies in the exten- 
sion of French influence. After his departure Clive was easily 
the most important European in the Orient. 

429. The "French and Indian War" in America. In 
America as in India the rival nations were preparing for new 
troubles. The Alleghany valleys were filling up ; l pioneer 
settlers always feel the need of much room ; and the tide of 
settlement would soon be forced across the mountains to the 
The American valleys and prairies beyond. The strong Iroquois 
problem. confederation in central New York stopped the 

westward movement at that point and the seat of the earliest 
trouble was therefore to the south, where the headwaters of the 
Potomac and Monongahela Rivers interlace. Both the English 
and the French claimed the upper Ohio valley. The French, 
however, were the first to take military possession of the region ; 

1 Review sec. 417. 






THE "FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR" IN AMERICA 461 



in 1753 they built a chain of forts from Lake Erie to the forks 
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Robert, Lord Clive 
After a painting by N. Dance. 

mous journey to the French commander of these forts was in 
the autumn of that year. He was sent out by the Washington's 
governor of Virginia to demand that the French journey to 

. , , , , , 11 r j the Ohio. 

withdraw, a demand that was naturally relused. 

The next year war broke out between Virginia and Canada. 



462 THE AGE OF PITT 

The Americans were defeated. In 1755 Newcastle, who was 
now at the head of the English administration, sent out General 
Braddock's Braddock with two regiments to drive out the 
defeat. French and incidentally to teach the American 

frontiersmen how to fight. Braddock was ambushed and his 
army destroyed. 

Several other expeditions were planned for the same summer, 
but all failed except one against the French forts on the border 
of Nova Scotia. This colony had been an English possession 
since the treaty of Utrecht : but its inhabitants were principally 
French, and England feared that the colony might 
be lost again. To secure the possession brutal 
measures were taken. A few weeks after Braddock's defeat the 
French inhabitants were gathered together, placed on board 
English ships and scattered through the Atlantic settlements 
and Louisiana. The deportation of the Acadians is the sub- 
ject of Longfellow's celebrated poem Evangeline. English 
settlers took the places of the exiled French, and Nova Scotia 
became a thoroughly English colony. 

430. England and the Seven Years' War. A year after 
the English disaster in western Pennsylvania, Frederick II 
broke the peace in Germany and was soon engaged in a desper- 
ate conflict with the Austrian queen and her French ally. Eng- 
land became involved in this war on the side of the Prussian 
king. She was now engaged in three separate wars against 
Three wars France : in India the English and French East 
with France. India Companies had been fighting for supremacy 
since 1751 ; in America the English colonists were striving to 
conquer Canada and secure the West ; in Europe the rulers 
of Prussia and Austria were fighting over German territory. 
These wars called into prominence three great builders of 
empire : Robert Clive, George Washington, and William Pitt. 

In Europe as in America the war began with disaster for the 
Disasters in English. In 1 756 the French seized the island 
Europe. f Minorca, which England had held since the 

treaty of Utrecht. The English power in the Mediterranean 



WILLIAM PITT 463 

was thus destroyed. The nation was aroused. It was a time 
when England needed real statesmanship in the government ; 
but the administration was in the hands of the impossible 
Newcastle, whose mouthpiece and chief reliance in the house of 
commons was a brilliant but corrupt politician, Henry Fox. 
But after the loss of Minorca the protest of the English people 
grew so loud and threatening that Newcastle was terrified. 
Fox deserted him, and the ministry resigned. 

431. William Pitt. 1 England called for William Pitt, and 
George II found it necessary to heed the call. William Pitt 
was the greatest parliamentary orator of the age. He was 
known to be absolutely honest and incorruptible and was al- 
most the only public man of real prominence who had such a 
reputation. The king, however, had long refused to admit 
Pitt to the cabinet. As one of the leaders of the opposition in 
parliament, Pitt had occasionally fought measures character of 
that were dear to the king's heart ; and there had wmiam Pitt - 
been times when George II felt (and perhaps with reason) that the 
keen sarcasm of the mighty orator was intended for himself and 
not for his ministers. Pitt's great administrative abilities were 
known to himself only : "I know that I can save this nation and 
that nobody else can" is a remark credited to Pitt in 1756. But 
the king could not feel friendly toward Pitt, and dismissed him. 

It was not long, however, before George II was compelled to 
recall Pitt to the cabinet. An alliance was formed between 
Pitt and Newcastle and the two entered the gov- pittandNew- 
ernment together. To this combination William castle in the 
Pitt contributed his splendid abilities ; Newcastle, governmen ■ 
his control of the Whigs in parliament. Pitt's mind produced 
plans and measures ; Newcastle secured their adoption by 
parliament. The two men hated and despised each other, but 
neither could do without the other. Newcastle was to be the 
nominal chief ; Pitt, one of the secretaries of state. As such he 
had control of foreign affairs to a large extent and was given a 
free hand in the management of the war. 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 368-369; Tuell and Hatch, No. 62. 



464 THE AGE OF PITT 

432. Pitt's Measures and Appointments. The English 
government now began to show unusual energy. Pitt was 
domineering and hard to please ; he could not work well with 
Pitt's plans other men and he was much afflicted with gout ; 
and measures. |- )ut ne was confident and vigorous and knew how 
to inspire the nation with his own assurance that victory would 
come. He planned campaigns and sought out the best possible 
men to carry them through. It had been Whig custom to give 
offices as rewards to favorites and followers ; this custom ceased 
when Pitt came into power : his appointments were made on 
the basis of merit. He held a large view of the field of war; 
while King George looked on the warfare chiefly as an effort to 
defend and secure his beloved Hanover, Pitt regarded the 
struggle as one for supremacy in North America, the Orient, 
and on the Ocean. He sent soldiers and money into Germany 
Military and that France might be kept busy in those quarters ; 
naval leaders. and Frederick the Great kept the French forces 
exceedingly busy, while Clive, Amherst, Wolfe, Hawke, Rod- 
ney, and Boscawen seized the French colonies and destroyed 
the French fleet. 

After a few months the results of Pitt's labors began to ap- 
pear. The years 1758 and 1759 are the most glorious in the 
Victories of history of English warfare. The series of English 
1758 and 1759. victories had really begun the year before (June 23, 
1 757) j when Clive gained the fateful battle of Plassey just a 
week before Pitt took charge of the war ; but the news of this 
did not reach England for many months. Pitt's victories 
were gained chiefly in America and on the ocean. 

433. u The Year of Victories." Pitt's plans were especially 
busied with Canada. He planned four campaigns : one against 
The war in Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, a French strong- 
America. JjqJqI wn ich was a constant menace to the colonies of 
Nova Scotia and New England ; another against the French forts 
on Lake Champlain that closed the route northward from New 
York to Montreal along the valley of the Hudson River and Lake 
Champlain ; a third in the direction of Fort Duquesne to secure 



"THE YEAR OF VICTORIES" 465 

control of the upper Ohio valley ; finally an attack on Quebec. 
By adopting a conciliatory attitude toward the colonial authori- 
ties, he secured their cooperation in all these movements. 

Louisbourg fell in July before a combined land and naval 
attack directed by General Amherst and Admiral Boscawen. 
The following month Fort Frontenac was seized and the English 
gained control of Lake Ontario. In November George Wash- 
ington raised the British flag over the ruins of Fort Duquesne 
and the gate of the West swung open ; the place victories in 
was named Pittsburg in honor of the great minis- America - 
ter. New victories came with the following spring. Guade- 
loupe, an important island in the West Indies, was seized in 
May. Two months later, Fort Niagara, Ticonderoga, and 
Crown Point fell into English hands and the way was open to 
Montreal and Quebec. In August Admiral Boscawen encoun- 
tered the French Mediterranean fleet which was on its way 
northward to join the Atlantic fleet at Brest in an attack on 
England. The battle was fought at Lagos near Battle of 
the southern extremity of Portugal : the French La s° s - 
fleet was almost ruined. In September, James Wolfe, who had 
spent the summer in trying to reduce the fortress of Quebec, 
succeeded in forcing his able opponent, the Marquis Mont- 
calm, to come out and fight him on the Plains of Abraham. 
Both generals fell, but the English were victorious. Quebec and 
The next year General Amherst completed the Canada - 
conquest of Canada (1760). 1 

The "year of victories" closed with Admiral Hawke's defeat 
of the French fleet at Quiberon Bay. The French maintained 
two great naval stations, one at Toulon on the Quiberon 
Mediterranean and one at Brest on the Atlantic. Bay - 
The Toulon fleet was ruined at Lagos Bay ; the Brest fleet was 
blockaded by an English fleet under Admiral Hawke, the great- 
est naval commander of the time. The autumn was stormy 
and Hawke had been compelled to return to England. The 
French admiral left the harbor but unexpectedly encountered 

1 Cheyney, No. 363; Gardiner, 753-756; Kendall, No. 118. 



466 THE AGE OF PITT 

Hawke's fleet which had just returned. In the battle that 
followed the French ships were scattered or destroyed. France 
still had powerful forces that she could use against Frederick 
of Prussia ; but against the island kingdom she was helpless. 

434. Victories in India. 1 The successes in America had 
their parallel in India. Clive followed up the victory at Arcot 
with further expeditions until English influence was dominant 
in southern India. His success became even more wonderful 
when it is recalled that his forces were composed largely of 
native Sepoys and a small number of Englishmen recruited 
chiefly from the lowest classes in London. Nominally India 
Decline of was an em pi re ruled by a Mohammedan dynasty 
the Mogul of Turanian origin. The emperor, usually known 
mpire * as the Great Mogul, resided at Delhi. The va- 

rious regions or provinces were governed by viceroys (subah- 
dars) and governors (nawabs or nabobs) appointed by the 
emperor, or by native Hindu kings (rajahs). With the open- 
ing of the eighteenth century the Mogul empire began to 
decay, 2 and the various kings, viceroys, and governors ruled 
their separate states almost as sovereigns. It was this chaotic 
state of affairs that made it possible for the English and French 
to combine conquest with trade and commerce. 

From the Carnatic Clive turned his attention to Bengal. The 
Englishmen had a trading post at Calcutta, and the French 
Clive in were at Chandernagore not far distant. Both 

Bengal. p a ^ tribute to the nabob of the region for the 

privilege of trade. The new viceroy was Surajah Dowlah who 
came into power in 1756. Surajah Dowlah hated the English 
and planned to oust the East India Company. Pretexts for 
an attack were soon formed. He seized the company's post 
and while graciously promising the prisoners their lives, had 
The Black them confined, 146 in number, in a single room less 
Hole - than twenty feet square, since known as the Black 

Hole of Calcutta. When the door was opened the following 
morning, only twenty-three were still alive. 3 

1 Gardiner, 758-764. 2 Robinson, No. 166. 3 Cheyney, No. 357, 



VICTORIES IN INDIA 



467 




British Territory 

Sphere of French Influence in the 

time of Dupleix ( about 17 50 ) 
'•-'■■'■ 1 Portuguese Territory 



468 THE AGE OF PITT 

When the news came to Madras, Clive at once determined 
to lead an expedition against the cruel viceroy. With 900 
British soldiers and 1500 Sepoys he landed in Bengal just be- 
fore the close of the year, reestablished the factory of the com- 
pany, and a little later drove the French out of Chandernagore. 
In June, almost a year after the tragedy of the Black Hole, 
Clive's little army met a native host of more than 50,000 at 
The battle Plassey and put the Bengalese to flight. 1 A 
of Plassey. native prince who was willing to serve as the 
75 ' company's tool was made nabob of Bengal. The 

influence of the East India Company spread rapidly up the 
great valley of the Ganges, and Calcutta became the center of 
British power in India. 

The French made an effort to recover the Carnatic but 
without success. In 1760 they were completely defeated at 
Wandewash. Wandewash. A few months later Pondicherri 
1760. surrendered. French power in India was a thing 

of the past. In 1761 the East India Company had no serious 
rival in the great Hindu peninsula. When peace was made, 
England restored Pondicherri, Chandernagore, and various 
other points, and these have since belonged to France. But 
the French possessions in India are mere trading posts ; in 
area they comprise less than 200 square miles. 

435. War with Spain. Meanwhile a new war had broken 
out. In 1759 Charles III ascended the throne of Spain: he 
was more energetic and aggressive than his predecessor and 
promptly renewed the Bourbon compact with France. William 
Pitt realized that war with Spain was coming and was eager 
to strike the first blow. But in England, too, there was a 
new king: George II died in 1760, and his successor, George 
III, was anxious to secure a general peace. For a year Pitt 
labored vainly with the king urging him to secure the advan- 
Resignation tages of an early declaration of war ; but George re- 
ofPitt. fused. In 1761 Pitt suddenly resigned ; 2 his office 

was given to Lord Bute, a Scotchman who had long been a 

1 Robinson, No. 166; Kendall, No. 177. 2 Cheyney, No. 367; Innes, 231-233. 



SUMMARY 469 

close friend of George III. Three months later (January, 
1762) the war broke out. In this war which continued to the 
close of the year, the English were uniformly successful. Two 
expeditions were at once sent out : one against Havana and the 
other against Manila in the Philippine Islands. Havana fell 
during the summer ; Manila was taken in the Havana and 
autumn. When peace was made, Havana was Manila - 
exchanged for Florida, while Manila was restored to Spain. 

436. The Peace of Paris. 1763. In the treaty of Paris, 
February, 1763, England received great additions to her em- 
pire. Her supremacy in India was secured, and her boundaries 
in America were advanced to the Mississippi River. The 
island of Minorca was restored to her, and thus England con- 
tinued to be a power in the Mediterranean. England also 
received several small islands in the West Indies Territorial 
and a foothold in West Africa (Senegal). France additions, 
withdrew entirely from the mainland of North America : Can- 
ada and nearly all of the territory east of the Mississippi River 
were added to England ; Louisiana was transferred to Spain ; 
France was allowed to keep the Miquelon Islands near the south 
coast of Newfoundland, and these are still a French possession. 
But great as the territorial acquisitions of England were, there 
were Englishmen who felt that too many of Pitt's conquests 
were being restored. William Pitt fought the UnpopuIarity 
treaty in the house of commons ; and not until of the treaty 
Newcastle, through his old accomplice Henry Fox, 

had made extensive purchases of parliamentary votes, was the 
treaty sure of ratification. 

437. Summary. After nearly thirty years of peace in the 
"age of Walpole" came a period of more than twenty years of 
almost continual warfare. During these years England fought 
six separate wars. 1. The first war with Spain was a period of 

a failure : in the treaty nothing was said about the S1X wars * 
English grievances against the Spanish coast guards. 2. The 
War of the Austrian Succession was a draw : it brought no ad- 
vantage either to England or to her old enemy France. 3. The 



470 THE AGE OF PITT 

war in India between the French and the English East India 
Companies resulted in victory for the English flag : the king of 
England is to-day the emperor of India. 4. The French and 
Indian War in America was won by the colonials : England took 
possession of Canada and the West to the Missi sippi River. 
5. The Seven Years' War brought no advantages to Eng- 
land, except such as came from the destruction of the rival 
French fleet. 6. The second war with Spain added Florida 
to the British Empire. Many great men contributed to the 
Achievements English successes : Clive, Washington, Wolfe, 
of William Hawke, and others ; but more than to any one else 

Pitt 

the honors must be given to William Pitt, the 
" Great Commoner" who organized victory in the British 
foreign office. 

REFERENCES 

The Jacobite rising of "45." — Brown, Short History of Scotland, 536- 
550; Fletcher, Introductory History of England, II, i, 264-277; Innes, History 
of England, 597-601; Lang, Short History of Scotland, c. xxxiii; Oman, History 
of England, 504-510; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 773-782; Tout, 
Advanced History of Great Britain, 555-559. 

William Pitt and the conquest or Canada. — Beard, Introduction to 
the English Historians, 452-465 (Mahon); Fletcher, II, i, 198-214; Gardiner, 
Student's History of England, 749-756; Green, William Pitt, 139-145; Harri- 
son, Chatham, 94-113; Innes, 622-629; Oman, 524-529; Ransome, 792-797; 
Tout, 564-569; Woodward, Expansion of the British Empire, 182-196. 

The English and the French in India. — Beard, 443-451 (Lyall); 
Gardiner, 758-762; Innes, 602-608, 629-635; Oman, 529-531; Ransome, 797- 
800; Tout, 561-564; Woodward, 196-203. 



CHAPTER XXII 



THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES 

438. George III. George III was the grandson of George 
II. At the time of his accession he was twenty-two years old 
and for nearly sixty years he bore the crown of England. Prince 
George was a most excellent and proper youth p ersona i 
and was in this respect such a contrast to his royal characteristics 
ancestors that he promised to be a popular king. ° eorge 
There was also the fact that he was born in England and took 
pride in his British 
nationality. The 
year after his ac- 
cession he married 
a German princess, 
Charlotte, who had 
all the domestic vir- 
tues that her royal 
husband appre- M 
ciated so highly but 0^ 
very few of the "'*&• 
qualities needed in 
a queen. George 
III was a man of 
the best intentions : 
he strove manfully 
to be a model king ; 
but the task was 
too much for him. Like his Hanoverian ancestors he was firm 
and resolute when he chose to be ; but his resolution was not 
always founded on good sense. His intellect was not strong, his 
thoughts were often vague, his speech was rambling and stut- 

47i 





~s$\ 



^y 



George III 
After a portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds. 



472 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES 

tering. Several times the strain of administration proved too 
great for his mind and attacks of insanity came upon him ; 
during the last dozen years of his life he was hopelessly insane. 

439. A " Patriot King." l His father Frederick, the Prince 
of Wales, had died nine years before, and George had received 
His political most of his education from his mother, who came 
training. from a little absolute monarchy in Germany. Her 

training of the young prince centered about the repeated admo- 
nition, "George, be a king." George took the advice to heart 
and resolved to be a real king, such a king as William III had 
been. Between his father and his grandfather there had been 
constant hostility. The opposition to Walpole had centered 
about the Prince of Wales : at his residence the followers of 
Bolingbroke and Pulteney had frequently gathered to plan 
A follower of measures and determine on action. 2 Bolingbroke's 
Bohngbroke. ideas were the accepted political philosophy of 
this group, and George III tried to realize it in his own govern- 
ment. The "patriot king" should be above party, he should 
be free to select his ministers, and they should be responsible 
to him. This was the idea of Bolingbroke and George III ; 
the king should govern according to the constitution, but mon- 
Opposition to arcn y should have greater initiative and discre- 
te cabinet tion. It was not the purpose of King George to 
establish an absolute regime like that of France or 
to imitate the personal monarchy of the Stuarts : he wished 
to regain the power that had passed from the king to the cabinet 
and especially to the prime minister. 

George III realized perfectly that no experiment with strong 
government according to Bolingbroke's ideas could be made 
while the nation was at war. Until peace was made he had to 
George III ^e satisfied to leave the actual power in the hands 
and William of William Pitt ; the king therefore was anxious for 
peace. An early peace, however, was not a part of 
Pitt's plan. England was roused ; her enemies were beaten ; 
her navy was in an excellent condition ; and William Pitt held 

1 Masterman, 168-169; Innes, II, 239-244. 2 Review sec. 418. 



THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN 1763 473 

that peace should not be made until all the enemies of Britain 
were thoroughly defeated. King George was anxious to retain 
Pitt in his cabinet; Pitt had been a "Patriot" Whig and had 
expressed his belief in Bolingbroke's political theory ; perhaps 
he could be useful in carrying out the new plans. But the great 
statesman opposed the plan to end the war and found it 
convenient to resign. 

440. The Political Situation in 1763. 1 The year 1763 saw 
the king free to begin his experiment with a stronger kingship. 
In many respects the times were favorable for such p act i onal dif _ 
a move. The king was popular. The cabinet ferences in the 
was friendly. The party which had robbed the lg party * 
monarchy of its ancient rights and powers was split up into 
factions. One of these, a group led by the duke of Bedford, 
was always for sale as a group. Another faction was led by 
the marquis of Rockingham who, though a highly respected 
peer, lacked the qualities of statesmanship. A small number of 
members rallied around William Pitt who was temperamentally 
unable to work with strong minds and consequently could not 
build up a strong following. A fourth faction looked for leader- 
ship to Grenville, Pitt's brother-in-law, a narrow politician with 
good intentions but a sluggish and prosy mind. 

George III did not enter upon any opposition to the Whigs, 
nor did he try to reorganize the remnants of the old Tory party ; 
he proceeded to build up a following of his own, The "King's 
the "King's Friends." The chief members of this Friends -" 
party were Whigs ; but circumstances forced them in the direc- 
tion of Toryism, for it was impossible to accept the ideas of 
George III without taking Tory ground. In securing the sup- 
port of these men, the most dubious methods were used ; bribery 
in all its forms was resorted to : titles, honors, and p ij t i cal 
decorations were awarded ; offices were given w r hen methods of 
it was found necessary ; and when these considera- e mg " 
tions were ineffective, the appeal was made in cold cash. In 
his political methods, George III, w T hose honor in private life 

1 Gardiner, 767-768; Masterman, 169-170. 



474 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES 

was unimpeachable, was a devoted follower of Walpole and 
Newcastle. 

441. George Grenville : the Imperial Problem. After the 

treaty of Paris the ministry was reorganized with George Gren- 

George ville as prime minister. Grenville had no abilities 

Grenville. as a statesman, and for the task before him he was 

entirely incapable. This was nothing less than to form a new 

constitution for the British Empire. The British possessions 

were as diverse as they were extensive. Some of the colonies, 

like Virginia and Barbados, were a century and a half old ; other 

settlements, like Nova Scotia, were comparatively 
Problem of ' ' r 

imperial new. New England was English; Canada was 

organization French; the West Indies were tropical; the col- 
and defense. : 

onies along the Atlantic coast were temperate in 

climate. The territories of the two great trading corporations, 
the Hudson Bay Company, which operated in regions border- 
ing on the Arctic, and the East India Company which dealt in 
tropical products, were also under the English flag. The 
problem was how to find a form of organization or to create 
some organ of authority that would bring all these possessions 
into proper relations with the home government, one that 
would be efficient and satisfactory, and that would not prove 
too expensive. So far as history can determine, there was no 
statesman or politician in England in the earlier years of 
George Ill's reign who had the wisdom and the energy neces- 
sary to solve the problem. 

442. Grenville 's American Policy. The Stamp Act. 1 
Grenville's policy grew out of a conviction that the old duel 
with France would be resumed, that sooner or later the French 
king would attempt to regain his lost possessions. It was 
therefore necessary to strengthen the military forces in America, 
where France had lost the most, and if possible to win the old 
TheProclama- allies of the French, the Indians, to the English 
tion Line. s j ( j e< ^ j me ca n e d the Proclamation Line was 
accordingly run along the Allegheny watershed and settlement 

1 Gardiner, 770-773. 



THE TOWNSHEND ACT 475 

to the west of this line was forbidden. It seems not to have 
been Grenville's plan to close the West permanently, — only 
until satisfactory arrangements could be made with the neigh- 
boring Indian tribes for a part of their land in return for compen- 
sation. It was also thought undesirable to plant settlements 
very far into the interior, as the distance and the mountains 
would make protection difficult. 

The act that drew the Proclamation Line was unpopular in 
America, but still more so was Grenville's belief that the col- 
onies ought to share in. the expense of maintaining Colonial 
an army in the West. It was estimated in London defense - 
that twenty regiments would be necessary, for the frontier was 
long and the settled area extensive. But just after an expensive 
war this would occasion an outlay that 
would be keenly felt by the English tax- 
payers. It was therefore determined to 
force the Americans to share in the expense 
and the measure adopted was The Stamp Act. 
a tax on stamped paper. This 17651766 « 
form of tax was new in America and proved 
so unpopular and so utterly impossible of 
enforcement that Grenville and his cabinet 
An English Revenue felt compelled to resign. Rockingham suc- 
TAMP ceeded Grenville as prime minister and the 

new cabinet induced parliament to repeal the act : l but of any 
constructive statesmanship Rockingham was incapable ; and 
when the king dismissed him a few months later, the problem 
of how to maintain an army in America was as far from settle- 
ment as ever. 

443. The Townshend Act. In his search for a prime min- 
ister who would form a ministry without reference to party, the 
king finally determined on William Pitt, who was The ministry 
created earl of Chatham and placed in charge, of Lord 
But Chatham, too, proved unequal to the occasion. 
His health was frail ; the American question was beyond him ; 

1 Cheyney, No. 381. 




476 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES 

he lost interest in the government ; and the nation drifted 
along practically without a prime minister. Finally Charles 
Townshend, 1 who held the important office of chancellor of 
the exchequer, or minister of finance, brought out and 
Townshend's succeeded in getting parliament to pass a series 
P lan - of measures for the taxation of America by means 

of a tariff or import duty on various articles that were in 
general use, such as glass, paper, tea, painter's colors, and 
red and white lead. The quarrel broke out afresh and led to 
much rioting in the colonies ; but in their opposition to these 
measures the Americans were at a disadvantage, as they had 
earlier admitted the right of the English government to levy 
taxes on imports. The agitation gradually subsided, and in 
1768 it seemed as if quiet might be restored. 

444. American Resistance. The " Boston Tea Party." 
Now followed a series of events that served to inflame the pas- 
sions on both sides of the ocean and make war inevitable. In 
1768, the English revenue officers seized a sloop bearing the good 
The sloop name of Liberty and belonging to the merchant 

" Liberty" John Hancock of Boston, which was strongly sus- 
pected of smuggling. The result was to revive 
the belligerent spirit in Boston. In 1770 the passions were 
further stirred by a riot in Boston usually known as the 
The "Boston "Boston Massacre." The following month parlia- 
Massacre." ment repealed the Townshend Acts, but voted to 

1770 

retain a light tax on tea. It was probably not 
the protests of the Americans that led to the repeal, but the 
complaints of the English merchants who found that the 
Americans were importing very little British merchandise. As 
a revenue measure the tax had proved a failure. The reten- 
tion of the tea tax produced much ill feeling in America. 
Burning of the Important too, was the burning of an English 
"Gaspee." revenue schooner, the Gaspee, by angry Rhode 

Islanders who felt that the craft had not been 
sufficiently lenient in its enforcement of the revenue laws. As 

1 Innes, II, 248-252 



THE COERCIVE ACTS. LORD NORTH 477 

in this case the English flag was violated, the effect on public 
opinion in England can be imagined. The next year an 
attack on the property of the East India Company by 
citizens of Boston practically ruined the cause of the colonies 
in England. 

The victories of Plassey and Wandewash had been won by 
the East India Company, whose real function was commerce, 
not war and conquest. As war is expensive, the company was 
soon in a bad way financially, and it became necessary for the 
government to take a hand in the management of 
its affairs. In 1773 parliament passed an act which assured of 
deprived the company in a measure of its authority chea P er 
in India but in return gave it a trading privilege 
which it was hoped would help to create profits and dividends. 
Formerly all the India tea that was shipped to America first 
had to be shipped to and pay import duty in England. 
Now it was provided that shipments to the colonies might be 
made direct. As the tax in England was thus avoided, the 
company could afford to cheapen its price to the Americans. 
But the colonists were suspicious and saw in this The Boston 
scheme only an attempt to induce them to buy "Tea Party." 
taxed tea, for the tax of 1770 was still in force. When the 
tea ships came to Boston, a number of men in disguise boarded 
them and threw the tea to the amount of $90,000 in value into 
the bay. 

445. The Coercive Acts. Lord North. This was too much 
for the Whigs, whose belief in the sacred rights of property was 
a treasured principle. Even Chatham, who had disapproved 
of Townshend's plans, felt called upon to protest. "The 
violence committed upon the tea cargo is certainly criminal," 
he wrote when the news of the riot reached him. As the East 
India Company naturally wanted the damage repaired, parlia- 
ment demanded that reparation should come from Massachu- 
setts. A series of four measures were rushed The Boston 
through the houses : one was the Boston Port Bill, Port Bm - 
which closed the port of Boston and allowed no ship to load or 



478 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES 



unload in the harbor until satisfaction should be rendered for 
the tea ; another in part revoked the charter of 

Massachusetts Massachusetts and gave extensive powers to the 

charter , in * er - governor, who was appointed by the king ; a third 
provided that English officials accused of crime 

committed in any colony while carrying out instructions from 

_ " the English 

TheTranspor- & 

tationActand government 
the Billeting sno uld be 
Act. 

tried in 

England; finally, by a 
fourth act the military 
authorities were em- 
powered to seize and 
use public buildings for 
barrack purposes. A 
The Quebec fifth meas- 

Act - u r e , the 

Quebec Act, extended 
the boundaries of Que- 
bec westward to the 
Ohio and the Missis- 
sippi ; but this measure 
seems not to have been 
directed against the col- 
onies. Its purpose was 
to bring all the French 
settlements into one 
province and place them 
under one governor. 

Lord North was prime minister and the chief sponsor for these 
coercive laws. He had entered the cabinet as premier in 1770 
l d N th an< ^ remame d in this position for eleven years. 
Lord North was a prime minister after the king's 
own heart : he made no pretense at controlling the government, 
but took the king's orders gracefully and obediently and tried 




Lord North 

From a portrait by N. Dance. 



CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 479 

to carry them out as the king wished. He did not always find 
the king's ideas wise ; but that was no reason for objecting and 
resigning, for, as long as the king wished him to head the govern- 
ment, he felt that it was his duty to remain at the helm. Lord 
North's plans to force America into obedience were not accepted 
without opposition ; this opposition, however, did not neces- 
sarily grow out of sympathy for the colonists, opposition 
The Old Whigs felt that the crown was too active to the coercive 
in the government ; and such leaders as Rocking- 
ham, Chatham, and Shelburne fought the coercive acts chiefly 
because they were in opposition to a government that was not 
truly Whig, and felt that they must object to every important 
proposal that came from Lord North and his royal master. 

446. The American Revolt. These five "intolerable acts" 
were passed in the early months of 1774. The twelve months 
that followed were a critical year for the colonial cause. The 
Americans had to advance or to retreat ; no other choice was 
possible. The majority was unwilling to retreat. British 
England proceeded to execute the coercive acts soldiers in 
and sent soldiers to Boston, which was the center 

of the rebellion. The colonists on their, side began to organize 
military companies and provide munitions of war. The result 
was the American Revolution. 

447. Causes of the American Revolution. 1 The causes 
that led to the secession of the American colonies from the 
British Empire have been variously stated : as a rule emphasis 
has been placed on the unwise policy of taxation that England 
adopted after the treaty of Paris and on the en- Parliamentary 
forcement of old laws that governed and restricted taxatlon - 
colonial commerce and manufactures. Of these laws there were 
two chief classes : the Navigation Acts that appeared first in 
the time of Cromwell and practically forced all Navigation 
the colonial commerce into English channels; 2 acts and 
and the Trade Acts which forbade the colonies 

to follow certain lines of manufacture that would bring them 

1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 61. 2 Review sees. 339, 394. 



480 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES 

into competition with the mother country. No doubt these 
laws and especially the Navigation Acts had their importance ; 
it seems, however, that the causes lay far deeper in English 
history and in the American mind. 

i. The Absence of Loyalty. There was a lack of active 
loyalty to England. To many of the Americans England had 
been an arbitrary and unkind mother : to the greater number 
she had never been a mother. The majority of Americans of 
Circumstances English blood were the descendants of ancestors 
of the Puritan who had left their homes because the conditions 
created by the English government had made life 
unbearable. It was the men whom James had threatened to 
harry out of the land, and whom Charles and Laud had tried 
to force into conformity with Anglican standards, who laid the 
foundations of New England. 1 Later the Puritans were re- 
enforced by dissenters who fled from the requirements of the 
Dissent in Clarendon Code in the reign of Charles II. 2 
America. Massachusetts was never cheerfully obedient to 

the home government. The colony planned resistance in 1634 ; 
grudgingly accepted Charles II in 1660 ; fought Andros in 1688 ; 
and was never reconciled to the settlement dictated by William 
III in 1691. 3 

In the middle and southern colonies the situation was dif- 
ferent — here the difficulty lay in the fact that the population 
Diversity of flowed from so many diverse sources. Many 

population in na tions contributed to the population of these 

the middle l L 

and southern colonies : the Netherlands, the German Rhineland, 

colonies. Ireland, Sweden, and England. 4 What loyalty 

there was here was likely to be of a passive sort, for the Ger- 
man, the Dutchman, and the Swede could hardly have de- 
veloped any strong love for England. Along the western 
The men of frontier were the Germans and the Scotch-Irish 
the frontier. w j 10 occupied the valleys that ran from southern 
New York to western Carolina ; of these the latter, whom 

1 Review sees. 286, 307-308. 3 Review sees. 308, 353, 387. 

2 Review sees. 353-354. 4 Review sees. 354, 417. 






CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 481 

English intolerance had forced to leave Ireland, could hardly 
have been grateful to the English crown. 1 

The fact, that so large a part of the colonial population was 
of non-English origin, is one of great importance. In 1700 the 
colonies had a population of about 250,000, with the English 
as' the controlling race: in 1740 the number had ' grown to 
1,000,000 ; when the revolution broke out in 1775, it was at least 
3,000,000. It is clear that this tremendous increase must be 
explained largely by immigration, chiefly from Germany and 
Ireland. 

2. The Colonies and English Law. There was a general lack 
of respect for English law. The laws against dissent were not 
enforced in America. James I did not excuse the Pilgrims from 
the demands of Anglicanism, but promised to " connive." After 
the Restoration violators of the Clarendon Code 

were welcomed in Clarendon's own colony, and not always 

Charles II showed an interest in the welfare of the enforced in 

the colonies. 
Quakers in Massachusetts that he did not display 

in England. This situation led to a general disregard for 

English law in the colonies, and to a feeling that ordinarily 

such law did not apply in America. In part this may explain 

the easy way in which the Navigation Acts were violated and 

the apparent respectability of smuggling. At the same time, 

Britain was careless in the enforcement of the statutes in the 

colonies, and this led to a belief that they were not intended 

to be enforced. 

3. Individualism. An important factor was the individual- 
ism of pioneer life. In the new settlements civilization had to 
be built from the bottom up. The colonists were thrown on 
their own resources ; and as a result self-dependence and in- 
dependence were developed to a high point in the pioneer spirit. 
This also led to the growth of a provincial feeling, to an emphasis 
on the locality. This development could not be The pioneer 
modified to any great extent by any interest in s P int - 

the wider world, for not much European news came to the 

1 Review sec. 417. 



482 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES 

colonial farmstead, and the larger movements of which the Amer- 
icans learned were very imperfectly understood. This set of 
facts applies particularly to the frontier. George Washington 
spent much of his time in the years before the Revolution as a 
surveyor on the frontier. Thomas Jefferson was a product of 
the Virginia frontier. 

4. Opposition to Parliamentary Authority. Important, too, 

is the great change that came in the English constitution after 

1689. We have seen that during the eighteenth century the 

powers of government passed to a large extent from the king 

and the privy council to the cabinet and parliament. 1 This 

process was imperfectly understood in America; hence, when 

Changes in parliament undertook to exercise its newer con- 

the English stitutional powers in the colonies, its acts were 

constitution . . • 

not understood looked upon as usurpation. The colonies had their 

in America. charters from the king and claimed to be subject 
to no other power. They had been accustomed to treat 
with the privy council and the secretaries of state ; but these 
were the king's council and the king's officials. The right of 
parliament to legislate for the colonies is denied in the Decla- 
ration of Independence. "He [George III] has combined with 
others [parliament] to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our 
constitutions and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his 
assent to their acts of pretended legislation." It was generally 
agreed, however, that parliament could pass laws to regulate 
commerce ; and such statutes had been enacted for more than 
a century. 

5. Growth of American Nationalism. It is scarcely correct 
to say that there was an American nation in 1760 or 1775 ; too 
much was wanting, — elements that time alone could provide. 
The passion of nationality, the consciousness of being a single 
The national- people, memories of a glorious past, jealousy of and 
izing process. even hatred for neighboring peoples, the colonists 
could not yet have. The nationalizing process was, however, 
•at work ; a nation was forming. The colonies were distinct 

1 Review sec. 410. 



CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 483 

from their neighbors, and separated from Britain by the ocean. 
They had a common language, English, and their institutions 
were fundamentally English. Their political system was 
republican and unlike both the aristocratic regime in Britain 
and the absolutism of the Continent. They had Common 
common enemies : Frenchmen, Spaniards, and instl tutions. 
Indians. They had what is the most important element in 
nationalism, a common history, having fought together on the 
northern and western frontiers in the great wars that began 
with the accession of William III. 

In religious matters there was much freedom and variety ; 
but the prevailing form of religion was Protestantism of the 
Reformed or Calvinistic type. And among the A caivinistic 
Protestants the Puritan sects, religious bodies of type of 
dissenters or non-conformists, as they would be reiglon - 
called in England, were far stronger than the Anglicans. The 
dissenters were exceedingly active in colonial politics. The 
New England pastors were the leaders in their j> ii t i C al 
towns and communities. But where English activity of 
bishops ruled the dissenters counted for nothing 
in political life. The rumor came to New England just before 
the Revolution that the Anglican church was planning to place 
bishops in America, and it caused no little uneasiness. Thus 
far there had been no bishops in America ; the colonies were 
regarded as part of the diocese of London and the Anglican 
parishes were supervised by commissaries sent out by the bishop 
of London. 

6. Colonial Ambitions of Self-rule. Ultimate separation from 
the mother country was inevitable : the only questions were the 
time and the manner. When the Revolution began Colonial 
England had a population of scarcely more than P°P ulatlon - 
6,000,000; Scotland had 1,000,000. America had about 3,000,- 
000, or half as many people as England, with tremendous 
possibilities for increase. The colonial system of government 
was unsuited to the new conditions. The mercantile system of 
economics which insisted that England must sell more to the 



484 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES 

colonies than she bought from them had a cramping effect on 
colonial growth. Separation was openly advocated 

Hampering 

effects of in the colonies long before it came. The Swedish 

the colonial botanist Kalm, who traveled in America in 1748 
system. 

and the following years, predicted secession of the 

colonists before thirty years should pass. The prediction was 
fulfilled almost to the year. 

448. Attempts at Conciliation. The coercive acts became 
effective in the summer of 1774. Delegates from the colonies 
met in Continental Congress in the following autumn. War 
Chatham's came in the succeeding spring, though not before 
plan - several attempts had been made at reconciliation. 

On February 1 Chatham came forward with a plan : he proposed 
that Parliament should repeal all laws that the colonies disliked, 
surrender the right of taxation, and withdraw the English troops 
from Boston. In return the colonies were to recognize definitely 
the supremacy of parliament and make voluntary contributions 
to the imperial treasury. 1 The lords rejected the plan. Three 
Lord North's weeks later Lord North proposed a plan which was 
plan. ' evidently the king's own. In this the theoretical 

right of parliament to levy taxes was insisted upon, but it was 
not to be exercised so long as the colonies made voluntary con- 
tributions. It was passed by parliament but was of no effect. 
Burke's ^he next mon th (March) Edmund Burke 2 deliv- 

Conciliation ered his famous conciliation speech and proposed 
peec ' a return to the laws and conditions in force in 

1763. 3 The commons rejected his motion. 

All these plans had their weaknesses, those of North and 
Chatham in that they ignored the deep-seated repugnance in 
Failure of the c °l° n i es to any external legislative authority, 

plans for Burke's plan was weak in that it ignored certain 

vital facts : the British Empire was far larger and 
more complex than before 1763; it had to be organized and 
administered. Burke, however, had no plans of government to 

1 Kendall, No. 119; Robinson, No. 168. 3 Cheyney, No. 384 

2 Bates and Coman, 365 (Goldsmith, Burke). 



BURGOYNE'S SURRENDER 



485 



offer. But before the news of Burke's interest in the colonial 

problem had reached America, a battle had been _ . 

Lexington, 
fought and blood had been shed at Lexington. 

449. The Declaration of Independence. After a year of 

fighting and maneuvering 
confined chiefly to New Eng- 
land and neighboring parts, 
the English were compelled 
to evacuate Boston, and for 
a few months, the colonies 
were wholly free from Brit- 
ish soldiery and British 
rulers. During these 
months the sentiment for 

Separation de- Sentiment for 
V el Oped rap- independence, 
idly : the experience of free- 
dom, the fears for the 
future, the need of foreign 
assistance were considera- 
tions that determined the 
Americans to declare their 
independence. It was 
thoroughly understood 
that England would not withdraw without a struggle ; 
and while the Declaration of Independence was being de- 
bated in Philadelphia, an English fleet appeared in New York 
harbor. 

450. Burgoyne's Surrender. For the next few years the 
conflict raged principally in the Middle Colonies, in the vicini- 
ties of New York and Philadelphia and in the Burgoyne's 
territory between these cities. It was a part of expedition. 

1777 

the British plan to cut the colonies in twain along 
the Hudson River route, and General Burgoyne was sent to 
invade New York by way of Lake Champlain. But the expedi- 
tion was singularly mismanaged at all points and resulted in 




Edmund Burke 
After a painting by Joshua Reynolds 



486 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES 

the surrender at Saratoga (1777)- 1 General Burgoyne returned 
to England and became a vigorous opponent of King George. 

451. War with France, Spain, and the Netherlands. 
Burgoyne's surrender gave a new turn to the conflict: it now 
blazed up into a general European war. France had shown 
an interest in the quarrel a decade earlier when the strife over 
taxation was on : and when the war broke out the French 
The war with government had secretly assisted the revolution- 
France. 1778. j sts w ith money and with arms. 2 It was generally 
understood, however, that France would not openly assist the 
Americans unless they should first declare their purpose to be 
independence and not merely relief from obnoxious legislation. 
The Declaration of Independence and the victory over Bur- 
goyne a year later decided France, which now entered the war 
as an active ally of the United States. 3 

The following year (1779), Spain, which was still bound to 
France by the Bourbon family compact, declared war on Eng- 
The war with land, though no alliance was entered into with 
Spain. 1779. America. , Jamaica, Minorca, Gibraltar, and 
Florida represented successive losses to England which Spain 
was anxious to retrieve. 4 She may also have had designs on the 
Illinois country which lay conveniently across the Mississippi 
War with from her new colony, Louisiana. The next year, 

the Dutch. (1780), Holland was also drawn into the fight 
against England. In the same year the Baltic states under the 
leadership of Frederick II and Catherine II formed the League 
of Armed Neutrality, the object of which was to destroy the 
League of commercial supremacy of England. Thus in 1780 
Armed Neu- England had to face the active hostility or pas- 
ra 1 y ' ' sive unfriendliness of practically the entire con- 

tinent of Europe. 

452. English Reverses. For such a war England was poorly 
prepared. The navy was not in the best condition and there 
was no William Pitt in the cabinet. Most of the English com- 

1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 63. 3 Gardiner, 787. 

2 Robinson, No. 173. 4 Review sees. 400-401, 436. 



MOVEMENT FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT IN IRELAND 487 

manders were mediocre men ; only two showed real merit : 
George Eliott, a Scotchman who commanded at Eliott and 
Gibraltar, and Admiral Rodney, who was reluc- Rodne y- 
tantly given command in the navy. The year 1780 was a dark 
year in England ; but it was still darker in America, where 
patriotism was growing weary of the interminable Reverses of 
war. This was the year of Gates' defeat at Camden the year 1780 
and of the treason of Arnold. The next year brought the sur- 
render of Yorktown and the end of the American phase of the 
war ; 1 but in Europe the conflict raged as before. Soon after 
the fall of Yorktown, the Spaniards took Minorca, while a 
French fleet in the West Indies seized all the British islands 
there except Jamaica and Barbados. In India, too, there were 
troubles : Hyder Ali, an able native warrior, was attacking the 
British posts in southern India from the interior, while a French 
fleet was threatening the coast. When 1781 closed, it looked as 
if the British Empire was doomed. 

453. The Movement for Self-government in Ireland. 2 
At the same time, serious danger threatened in Ireland. For 
some time there had been much agitation in Ireland for the 
repeal of all laws that made Ireland dependent on Agitation in 
England. In 1778, when France declared war Ireland - 
against England, the Protestants of the Irish parliament found 
it advisable to repeal the Irish Test Act and some of the more 
iniquitous of the Penal Laws. 3 Later in the same year, the 
Irish leaders began to organize military bands, "the volunteers," 
ostensibly for the defense of the island. Before the close of the 
next year the volunteers numbered nearly 50,000 ; The 
by the close of 1781 the number had risen to 80,000. "Volunteers." 
During the same years, a strong party in the Irish parliament, 
led by the eloquent Henry Grattan, clamored for legislative 
independence. England dared not refuse; and in May, 1782, 
the English parliament passed the Act of Repeal by which 
Poynings' Law 4 and the Sixth of George I, an act affirming 

1 Gardiner, 792-793. 3 Review sec. 403. 

2 Ibid., 795-796. 4 Review sec. 226. 



488 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES 

the right of the English parliament to legislate in Irish affairs, 
were both repealed. Ireland was now free to legislate without 
interference from Westminster. 

454. English Victories. The Battle of " The Saints." The 
Act of Repeal was passed in the gloomiest hour of the war. Not 
Battle of The long afterwards came the cheering news that Rod- 
Saints. 1782. ne y nac i d ea it the allied enemies a stunning blow 
in the West Indies. De Grasse, the French admiral whose fleet 
had assisted at the investment of Yorktown, was now planning 
to seize Jamaica. But Rodney's fleet was in the West Indies, 
and in April the two forces met at "The Saints" a group of 
little islands near Guadaloupe. Rodney won the victory; he 
crippled the French fleet and took De Grasse prisoner. Ja- 
maica was saved to Britain. In the autumn the English were 
still more cheered to learn that the attack of the allies on Gib- 
raltar had been a complete failure. During the same year 
Hastings in (1782), Warren Hastings, the governor general of 
India. India, succeeded in pacifying the interior tribes 
that were on the war-path. Hyder Ali died and his successor 
made peace with the English. 

455. Results of the American War. The American War was 
formally closed by the treaties of Paris and Versailles in Septem- 
Peace of her, 1783. The English successes of the year before 
Paris. 1783. a nd the disposition of the Americans to make a sepa- 
rate peace convinced the Bourbon allies that it was not expedient 
to continue the war. The results of the American Revolution 
were far-reaching both for Europe and for America. 

1. It ruined the party of " King's Friends" and discredited 
the political purposes of George III. During the first ten years 
George ill's °^ n * s re ig n tne king had tried six prime ministers, 
political plans In 1 7 70 he finally found the tool he sought for in 

iscre ite . L orc j North whom he kept in nominal control for 
twelve years. George III now had an opportunity to try out 
his political plans. The result was the most disastrous war 
that England had ever fought. 

2. It practically ruined the Whig party. Lord North re- 






RESULTS OF THE AMERICAN WAR 489 

signed in 1782, and the king had no choice but to recall the oppo- 
sition Whigs to power with Lord Rockingham as whig party 
prime minister. But the Whigs did not have the en- ruined- 
tire confidence of the nation. Their attitude during the war had 
not been wholly patriotic : they had tried to embarrass the 
government in every possible manner ; one of their leaders, 
Charles James Fox, the son of Henry Fox who had served under 
Newcastle, even sat in the house of commons wearing the colors 
of the American uniform, buff and blue. There were two fac- 
tions in the party, the followers of Rockingham, now known as 
the Old W^higs who still emphasized the authority of parliament, 
and the New Whigs, or Chathamites, who believed in strength- 
ening the authority of the central government. The Whigs 
were very unfortunate in their leaders. Chatham died in 
1778 * and the leadership of his faction fell to Lord Shelburne, 
a capable but peculiar politician, who seemed to be suspicious 
of all with whom he came in contact and in return whig factions 
was regarded with universal distrust. Rocking- and leaders - 
ham had not grown wiser with the years ; and soon after he 
became prime minister for the second time he died (1782). 
Shelburne who succeeded him could not hold his party together. 
Edmund Burke was a great orator and thinker, but not a prac- 
tical statesman. The most brilliant of all the Whigs was 
Charles James Fox, who had entered the house of commons at 
the age of nineteen, but had already acquired a reputation for 
irregular living that clung to him to the close of his career. 
Fox was hostile to Shelburne and formed an alliance with his old 
political enemy, Lord North, to overthrow Shelburne and force 
themselves into the ministry as secretaries of state. The 
The move succeeded and for nearly a year the "in- "infamous 
famous coalition" controlled the government. But 
the nation was disgusted at the sight of a ministry that stood 
for nothing but spoils, and applauded George when by distinctly 
unconstitutional methods he overthrew the Fox-North cabinet 
and gave the premiership to the younger William Pitt. 

1 Gardiner, 787. 



490 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES 

3. It restored almost complete independence to the Irish 
Kingdom. The Act of Repeal was followed by the Act of Re- 
Legislative nunciation in 1783, by which England renounced 
independence all rights that she might still have to control Ire- 
land. From that year to the close of the century, 

the bond uniting Ireland to Great Britain was a personal union 
only. 

4. It seriously impaired the British Empire. England lost 
her oldest and her most highly developed colonies, the " thir- 
Losses to teen" in America. To Spain she was obliged to 
the British surrender Minorca and Florida. To France she 

mpire ' ceded two important posts in West Africa ; other- 

wise France derived nothing from the war but a bankrupt 
treasury. 

REFERENCES 

George III. — Fletcher, Introductory History of England, II, i, 282-287; 
Green, William Pitt, 162-165; Innes, History of England, 636-637; Jenks, 
Parliamentary England, 178-184; Oman, History of England, 532-534; Ran- 
some, Advanced History of England, 804-806; Rosebery, Pitt, 10-14; Tout, 
Advanced History of Great Britain, 570-573. 

Causes or the American Revolution: general account. — Fletcher, 
II, i, 289-298; Innes, 658-661; Jenks, 230-234; Ransome, 821-823; Wood- 
ward, Expansion of the British Empire, 209-221. 

Grenville and the Stamp Act. — Green, 219-265; Harrison, Chatham, 
158-168; Innes, 641-647; Jenks, 201-216; Oman, 539-542; Ransome, 811- 
814. 

The Townshend Acts and the tea tax. — Innes, 650-652; Jenks, 218- 
220; Tout, 577-580. 

The American Revolution. — Fletcher, II, i, 300-319; Gardiner, 782- 
794; Harrison, c. xii; Innes, 661-671; Oman, 545-553; Ransome, 823-833; 
Tout, 581-584; Woodward, 222-228. 

Chatham. — Green, c. x; Harrison, c. i. 

Legislative independence for Ireland. — Johnston and Spencer, Ire- 
land's Story, 261-268; Lawless, Ireland, c. 1. 

The Fox-North coalition. — Innes, 683-687; Jenks, 260-274. 



CHAPTER XXIII 
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 

456. The Age of Common Sense. The eighteenth century 
was an age of great changes in almost every field of English life. 
The change in the nature of the government that ChanRes m 
came with the cabinet system has already been English 
noted ; but vast forces of change were also at work society - 
in the fields of intellect, of religion, and of industrial life. In 
some fields the development was gradual and slow : its full sig- 
nificance was not realized until the following century was well 
under way. But even at the time it was realized, though 
not always clearly, that English society was being completely 
transformed. 

The eighteenth century was preeminently an age of reason 
and common sense. The consuming religious strife that had 

endured for nearly two hundred years, first be- „ . 

Rationalism, 
tween Catholic and Protestant, then between An- 
glican and Puritan, finally ceased with the Toleration Act of 
1689. This age of religious interest and conflict was followed 
by a long period of indifference to religious matters, which was 
particularly noticeable among the more cultivated classes. The 
details of religious belief were held to be unimportant. Reve- 
lation in the Scriptural sense was questioned. God had given 
mankind the gift of reason, and reason was a surer guide to 
truth than faith. The important thing was to test everything 
in the light of common sense. This emphasis on thought and 
reason was not peculiar to England : it was common to the in- 
tellectual classes - of all western Europe ; the eighteenth century 
was the "Age of Enlightenment.'' It was the Age of En- 
period of Voltaire and the Encyclopedists in France, "ghtenment. 
of the "Illumination" in Germany, and of the "enlightened 

491 



492 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 

despots," who strove to reform governments and rule their 
people in a rational way. 

The rational or sensible man, it was held, would not yield to 
impulse or feeling. The ideal life should be calm and never 
The rationalis- boisterous. Humanity had a right to enjoyment, 
tic temper. but t his snou icl not be noisy. To be ill was ac- 
counted an unpardonable weakness, at least during Walpole's 
time. Queen Caroline, 1 the consort of George II, long bore a 
serious illness in secret ; and when it was finally discovered, the 
unfortunate queen was already doomed. This may serve to 
illustrate the practical results of this glorification of common 
sense ; but it had other results, serious as well as ridiculous. 
Break-down Both public and private morals broke down ; brib- 
of morals. er y was a crvm g ev ii • among the so-called higher 
classes the Puritan view of the ten commandments as a code to 
be rigorously kept and enforced had almost entirely disappeared. 

457. The Literature of the Eighteenth Century. This 
effort to be sensible and rational appears especially in the liter- 
ature of the age. The masterpieces of the eighteenth century 
poetry were didactic : they aimed to give instruction, to give 
pleasure to reason, not to stir up the reader's emotions. Typi- 
cal of the period is Pope's Essay on Alan which was 
written in 1733. Of the same spirit, though some- 
what less didactic, is The Seasons by James Thomson, who was 
Pope's contemporary. A decade later Edward Young was 
Thomson writing his Night Thoughts, and in 1749 Thomas 

Young, and Gray published his famous Elegy Written in a 
Country Churchyard. There is much excellent 
poetry in all these poems; but for the most part they are 
thoughts cast in poetic forms. Sometimes the lines read like 
proverbs: it was Young who first told us that " Procrastina- 
tion is the thief of time." 

The prose of the period is more important than the poetry. 
The eighteenth century produced two forms of literature both 
of which have become permanent : the magazine and the 

1 Innes, II, 206-207. 



ENGLISH POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY 493 

novel. The Gentleman's Magazine, the first really successful 
periodical, began in 1731. The novel came nine The magazine 
years later. The first novelist was Samuel Richard- and the novel - 
son, a London printer, who was a rather dull stylist, but a 
keen observer of human activities. A better writer was Henry 
Fielding, whose earliest novels were apparently Richardson 
suggested by those of Richardson. The novel and Fieldin g- 
proved to be immensely popular. 

Thomson, Pope, Richardson, Young, Fielding, and Gray be- 
long to the earlier half of the century, to the period of Walpole 
and Newcastle. The writers of the second half of the eighteenth 
century struck a truer note : their writings are less didactic and 
fall more completely within the province of literary art. This 
period forms the transition to the greater literary age of the 

nineteenth century which was ushered in by such 

ttt 1 1 i t^ ™i • , Dr - Johnson, 

writers as Wordsworth and Byron. The period 

began with Dr. Johnson, whose ideals do not differ much from 
those of the school of Pope. But he is followed by Cowper 
in whom the religious spirit was strong; by the Cowper Gold _ 
genial Goldsmith, who is described as a literary smith, and 
vagabond ; and by Sheridan, the famous drama- en an ' 
tist and parliamentary orator. But its greatest representative 
was the peasant Robert Burns, who from his farmstead in south- 
western Scotland sent forth a" series of genial, 

,. . . . . . . , Robert Burns. 

realistic, and yet intensely lyrical poems, that 

remain to this day the joy and the pride of the Scotch people. 

458. English Political Philosophy. The rule of common 
sense is also seen in the political thought of the period. Unlike 
the thinkers who laid the intellectual foundation of the French 
Revolution, the English political theorists were chiefly inter- 
ested in justifying the changes that time had made necessary. 
At the end of the preceding century, the philoso- 
pher John Locke had justified the Revolution of 
1688 by supposing that, when government originated, the king 
and the people entered into some kind of a contract ; and that, 
since James II had failed to carry out his part of the contract, 



494 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 

parliament, as the representative of the nation, was justified in 
giving the kingship to William and Mary. The explanation 
was simple and sensible ; it was one that the mind grasped 
readily. The only difficulty is that no such contract was ever 
formed. The theory of contract was held very, generally in the 
eighteenth century, and seems to have been the theory on which 
most Americans justified their repudiation of George III. 

Three great ideas dominated English politics in the eigh- 
teenth century : (i) toleration, (2) the rights of personal liberty, 
and (3) the sacredness of property. 1 These were Whig ideas 
Whig prin- that took form during the conflict between the 
cipies. Stuarts and parliament in the seventeenth century. 

Charles I had levied unauthorized taxes and had imprisoned 
men who refused to pay them : these forms of tyranny 
Personal had been resisted. John Locke found a justifi- 

hberty. cation for this resistance in his political philosophy. 

Mankind, he thought, had a right to personal freedom and the 
possession of property before governments were formed. Per- 
haps the best statement of the early Whig view is in the Declara- 
tion of Independence, where Thomas Jefferson enumerates "life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" as " unalienable rights," 
to secure which " governments are instituted among men." 

The leaders of the Whig party were wealthy men, lords who 

owned vast estates, and merchants who had large interests in 

„„ . , , the financial world. To such men property natu- 
Whig leaders. ^ . 

rally had a sacred character. So much importance 

was attached to property rights, vested rights as they were 

called, that it was almost impossible to effect any necessary 

social reform. If a merchant was engaged in the slave trade, 

any interference with that traffic was likely to interfere with his 

Sacredness income, his vested rights, and efforts in that direc- 

of property. t i on were promptly blocked. When the horrors of 

the slave ships were brought to light, the house of commons 

passed a bill to make conditions more tolerable for the Negroes ; 

but the house of lords ruined the bill by amending it. Prop- 

1 Kendall, No. 106. 



RELIGIOUS THOUGHT: DEISM AND RATIONALISM 495 

erty, it was held, belonged absolutely to the owner : it could not 
even be taken in the form of taxes, unless the nation through 
its representatives consented. According to Whig ideas ' taxa- 
tion without representation was tyranny.' 

By personal liberty the Whigs did not mean political rights, 
such as the right to vote and hold office ; these were reserved 
for the influential classes. They meant that the law should 
molest no one unless there was an apparent cause to justify it ; 
and that when an Englishman was arrested he was entitled to 
a speedy trial. This was to prevent the men in power from 
keeping in prison political opponents, whose only crime was 
opposition to the policies of the government. The Habeas 
Corpus Act, which secures a prompt trial, the Habeas 
English nation owes chiefly to the work of Lord Cor P us Act - 
Shaftesbury, the founder of the Whig party. These ideas were 
certainly rational ; but at times the emphasis that was placed 
on liberty and property made it difficult to give government 
the necessary strength. 

459. Religious Thought: Deism and Rationalism. The 
English thinkers of the eighteenth century, though many of 
them were indifferent to the Anglican form of religion, were 
agreed that for the multitude the church was a useful institution 
which the state ought to maintain. But if honest men felt 

unable to conform to the established worship, they 
iii! 1 1 • 1 • i • 1 ' Toleration, 

should be tolerated in their own worship. Toler- 
ation, however, was not regarded as a natural right, but as a 
privilege that it was expedient for the state to allow. The 
privilege took the form of a license which was issued to dissent- 
ing congregations that applied for it. 1 Religious bodies that the 
government regarded as dangerous to itself, such as Catholic 
organizations, were not tolerated. 

The form of belief that was most common among the more 

advanced thinkers of the time was deism. The _ . 

Deism. 
deist held that what was believed by the churches 

to be religious truth was probably error and, even if true, of 

1 Review sec. 384 (3). 



49 6 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 



Rationalism. 



very slight importance. Only a few large truths like the ex- 
istence of God and the immortality of the soul were of any real 
consequence. There was another group of thinkers who did 
not reject revelation so completely as did the deists 
but still went far in their emphasis on reason : these 
were called rationalists. There were many rationalists in the 
English pulpits. They 
were zealous for the cer- 
emonies of the church, 
but in their preaching 
there was very little 
religious fervor. As 
reason demanded that 
religion should be prac- 
tical, the rationalistic 
pastors preached ser- 
mons that they 
thought might prove 
„ . , instructive 

spirituality in for every- 
the Anglican ^ay ljf e< 
church. _ 

But lec- 
tures on industry and 
proper tillage of the soil 
could do very little to 
improve the spiritual 
condition of the con- 
gregation ; and the average Anglican church in the first half of 
the eighteenth century was dull, prosy, and unspiritual. 

460. John Wesley and Methodism; the Evangelicals. 
Anglicanism seems to have touched its lowest point during the 
decade 1 730-1 740. This was the period of Walpole and his 
assistant Newcastle, of bribery and corruption, 1 of coarse morals 
and artificial literature. But even at this time there was much 
spiritual energy in the nation. During this decade a young 

1 Review sec. 413. 









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The Sleeping Congregation 
From a painting by Hogarth, 1736. 



JOHN WESLEY AND METHODISM; EVANGELICALS 497 



.:/«?:•: .- :■■'.:-■■,■".■';:■. 







John Wesley 
After a picture by S. Harding. 

Oxford theologian was going through a remarkable religious de- 
velopment. When his ideas had matured he began situation 
to preach them, and the result was Methodism. 1 1730-1740. 

John Wesley was born at Epworth in the northern part of 
Lincolnshire, where his father was rector. As a 
young man he went to Oxford, where he studied 
theology and was ordained to the Anglican priesthood. 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 355-356; Kendall, No. 113. 



John Wesley. 

He 



498 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 

served for a brief period as missionary in the infant colony of 
Georgia, but was not successful; and in 1737 he returned to 
England. Two years later he took up the task of infusing new 
life into the Anglican church. This work he continued till his 
death fifty-one years later (1791). If greatness is to be meas- 
ured by achievement, John Wesley ranks with the foremost 
men of his century. 

It was not the purpose of Wesley and his associates to organ- 
ize a new church; their intent was -to create a society within 

the established church to supplement its work. 
Attitude of _. . . . . , . . . 

the Methodists They therefore held their services at such times as 

toward the would not bring them into conflict with the Angli- 

church. . • 

can services. But the church was unwilling to rec- 
ognize such a society, and although Wesley himself never left 
the Anglican communion, his followers were finally forced to 
withdraw from the established church and organize under the 
provisions of the Toleration Act. So long as they remained 
within the established church, they were subject to discipline 
by its officials ; but as dissenters they had certain rights and 
were more secure against persecution. 

The new movement was met with opposition and ridicule. 
In its insistence on conversion, in its enthusiastic and emotional 
Opposition to meetings, and in its informal order of worship, 
Methodism. Methodism differed radically from the Anglican 
church. Zealous bishops (of whom there were a few) fought the 
movement, while the skeptics ridiculed it. "I have been at 
one opera, Mr. Wesley's," wrote Horace Walpole in 1766. He 
describes Wesley as a "lean, elderly man, fresh colored, . . . 
wondrous clean, but as evidently an actor as Garrick." But 
in spite of the mobs and persecution the movement grew 
apace. 

The advance of Methodism was checked somewhat by a kin- 
dred movement, the Evangelical, which succeeded in maintain- 
The Evangel- ing itself within the bounds of the Anglican church, 
ical movement, This movement, which also strove after personal 
holiness, for some time ran parallel to the Wesleyan ; but the 



THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 499 

Evangelicals refused to follow the Methodists out of the estab- 
lished church. 

461. Religious Poetry: Hymns. It is a noteworthy fact 
that the eighteenth century, the age of cultivated paganism, 
was also the great age of English hymnology. To- 

Handel. 

ward the close of Queen Anne's reign George Fred- 
erick Handel came to England from Hanover and for nearly 
fifty years England was his home. He became the musical 
interpreter of the English religious spirit. In his days Isaac 
Watts and Philip Doddridge, two dissenting clergy- N on _ con f orm _ 
men, were writing hymns that are still widely used, ist writers 
Later in the century another non-conformist min- ° ymns - 
ister, Edward Perronet, wrote Old Coronation, one of the most 
famous of all English hymns. Charles Wesley became the poet 
of the movement of which his brother was the preacher. The 
Evangelicals produced the poet Cowper and his associate John 
Newton, who began his career as a sailor and slave trader and 
closed it as poet and minister in the Anglican Evangelical 
church. Augustus Toplady was an Anglican of the h y mn writers, 
older school. He hated Methodism and wrote fiercely against 
the Wesleys. His learned writings are forgotten, but his hymn, 
"Rock of Ages," is known wherever English is spoken and sung. 

462. The Industrial Revolution. 1 The eighteenth century 
further witnessed a profound change in the economic life of the 
nation. This first appeared in industry and is Economic 
known as the industrial revolution : old methods chan g es - 

of manufacture were discarded ; the machine appeared in 
industry ; and the word factory, which earlier had meant a trad- 
ing post, assumed its modern meaning. The industrial revolu- 
tion was promptly followed by a revolution in agriculture which 
completely transformed the appearance of rural England. 
These two movements began about the middle of the eighteenth 
century and were moving swiftly forward during the period of 
the American war. They continued till a third of the nine- 
teenth century was past. 

1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 69. 



500 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 

In 1700 England was still an agricultural nation. London 
was a comparatively large city, but it had no competitors. 1 
About five millions made up the population of England- and 
England in Wales, of whom only one-fifth lived in cities. A 
170 °- century later, the population was nearly doubled, 

while the urban population had trebled. The increase was 
greatest during the second half-rrf the century and followed 
closely the changes in industry and agriculture. 

Between these two lines of activity, farming and handiwork, 
there had always been a close connection. 2 England had for 
Domestic centuries held an important position in the pro- 
manufactures, duction of wool and woolen cloth. 3 In this pro- 
eduction the farmers had some part : in their houses much of the 
wool was combed, spun, and woven. In this way the family 
was able to increase its income quite materially. There was also 
a class of laborers who gave most of their time and strength to 
the woolen trades ; but these usually had a plot of land by the 
cultivation of which they were able to keep down expenses. 

; 463. Spinning Machines and Power Looms. 4 The indus- 
trial revolution was the result of a series of inventions which 
completely destroyed the domestic form of manufacturing. 
As young and old were now busy spinning cotton as well as 
wool, more thread was produced than the weavers could use. 
The fly- This was remedied in 1732 by Kay's invention of 

shuttle loom, ^e fly-shuttle, a loom that greatly increased the 
capacity of the weaver. .The demand was now for more thread. 
This was supplied by three new inventions that were perfected 
Hargreaves' between 1764 and 1779. First came the spinning 
spinning jenny, a machine invented by James Hargreaves, 

jenny. ^ w j 1 j c j 1 ^ e operator was enabled to work eight 

spindles instead of one. The machine was still further improved 
and made ten times as efficient as when first put to use. The 
spindle was an ancient device, as old as civilization itself, so 
that Hargreaves did not discover any new principle of spinning. 

1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 60. 3 Kendall.. No. no. 

* Cheyney, No. 370. 4 Gardiner, 81.1-816. 



SPINNING MACHINES AND POWER LOOMS 501 

But Richard Arkwright found that better and stronger thread 
could be produced by passing the cotton fibers be- Arkwright's 
tween rollers. 1 As Arkwright's spinning machine water frame - 
could be operated by water power, it soon came to be known 
as the "water frame.". Ten years later, Samuel Crompton 
combined the methods of the spindle and the series of rollers in 




The Spinning Jenny 



a contrivance that has since been called the "mule." Cromp- 
ton 's mule spun a finer thread than was possible Crompton's 
with the spinning jenny or the water frame. These mule - 
three inventors of spinning devices, Ha^reaves, Arkwright, 
and Crompton, were all natives of Lancashire, which was and 
still remains the center of the cotton industry in England. 

These inventions soon supplied more cotton thread than 
could be woven into cloth even after the fly-shuttle looms had 
become common. But in 1785 this difficulty was Cartwright's 
removed by the invention of the power loom by P° wer loom - 
Edmund Cartwright, a Kentish clergyman with a genius for 
mechanics. As~both spinning and weaving could now be done 
by machinery, the output of cotton cloth increased enormously. 

1 Cheyney, No. 373. 



502 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 



The only difficulty now was how to obtain a sufficient supply 
Whitney's of cotton. Seven years after the appearance of 
cotton gin. trie p 0we r loom, an American inventor, Eli Whit- 
ney, built the first cotton gin, a machine by which the growth 
of cotton was promoted in the American South, and the supply 
was soon equal to the demands of Lancashire. 

464. The Factory System: the Steam Engine. The ap- 
plication of power to the textile industries had far-reaching re- 
sults. The new machines were set up in factories, where a 
large number of people could labor under the same roof. Spin- 
ning and weaving ceased in the cottages of the laborers: the 
old domestic industry came to an end, and the poorer classes 
in the country lost an important part of their in- 
come. In the factories much of the work was such 
as did not require strength or skill, and the manufacturers very 
soon began to employ women and children in large numbers. 
The new factories were naturally built where water power was 
most available, along the swift streams which flowed down from 
the Pennine Range through Lancashire and tlie West Riding of 
Yorkshire. Into these sections a constant stream of working- 
men flowed, and soon these hitherto unpromising regions could 
The manufac- boast large and growing cities. With this conges- 
turing centers. t j on f population came a new type of social prob- 
lems : for factory labor meant low wages, long hours, extensive 
employment of children, and unsanitary homes. 1 

Water power was after a time replaced by steam power ; but 
the textile factories remained in the northern counties, for in 
these districts were extensive coal fields as well as rapid streams. 
Even before Hargreaves had invented his spinning jenny, James 
Watt's steam Watt, a Scotch mechanic, had succeeded in build- 
engine. m g a p rac tical steam engine, 2 though it was some 
time before the new machine could be used for anything but 
pumping. During the last decade of the century, steam, as 
motive power to turn the factory wheels, was rapidly being in- 
troduced. Cartwright applied steam to his power loom in 1789. 

1 Cheyney, No. 372. 2 Ibid., No. 374; Gardiner, 816-817. 



COMMERCE AND TRANSPORTATION. ADAM SMITH 



503 



465. Coal and Iron. The coal fields of England lie in a 
broad belt extending diagonally across the country from South 
Wales to Durham and Northumberland. Along with the coal, 

iron is found in great 
quantities. Iron has 
been mined in England 

since the Mineral 

metal came resources, 
into use on the island; 
but for a long time only 
such deposits as were 
found near forests could 
be mined with profit, as 
charcoal was the only 
fuel that would give suf- 
ficient heat for smelting. 
But when, about the 
middle of the eighteenth 
century, methods were 
perfected for using ordi- 
nary coal in the smelting 
furnaces, the mining in- 
dustry began to develop 
rapidly, and iron manu- 
factures came to be of 
great importance. 

466. Commerce and Transportation. Adam Smith. The new 
interest in cotton and wool, in coal and iron, in steam and water 
power, in mines and factories could not fail to stimulate com- 
merce. As the producing centers were frequently distant from 
the sea, the problem of transportation was often a difficult one. 
This was solved in part by the earl of Bridge water, Canals and 
who built a famous canal between his Lancashire roads - 

coal fields and the sea. His engineer was James Brindley, who 
later constructed numerous canals in northwestern England. 1 

1 Cheyney, No. 371. 




James Watt 



504 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 

Roads were also built and improved, though it was not until 
after Macadam began to build " macadamized" roads of crushed 
rock in the first quarter of the nineteenth century that Eng- 
land really had good highways. 

The increased volume of manufactured goods forced English- 
men to look for larger markets abroad. It was also found that 
the ideas of the mercantilists x no longer fitted the economic 
situation. The nation began to see that Europe would not 
continue to buy largely of English products unless England 
bought European goods in return. The old idea that a nation 
New economic should fear the prosperity of its neighbors was also 
theories. found to be wrong ; for unless a country is pros- 

perous it cannot afford to buy English products. Consequently, 
the old restrictions that hampered foreign trade were gradually 
removed. This movement for wider and freer trade found 
favor in the government itself, where the younger Pitt was the 
ruling force. A treaty was made with France, by which the 
two countries agreed to lower their tariff duties on each other's 
products. But the ideas that Pitt strove to enact into law were 
„ . , those of a great Scotch thinker, Adam Smith, who 

Adam Smith. . f . ' ' 

in 1776 published a famous work on the Wealth of 
Nations, which in time revolutionized English thought on 
economic subjects. 

467. The Agricultural Revolution. It will be remembered 
that in the medieval manor the plowland was divided into acre 
and half-acre strips, and that the strips allotted to each farmer 
were usually scattered over the fields. 2 During the Tudor 
period much of this land had been enclosed ; 3 but in 1700 there 
still remained large areas of land that were laid out and farmed 
in the old way. Intelligent landowners were beginning to see, 
however, that the system was wasteful and unproductive ; and 
several prominent leaders were preaching the merits of a "new 
The "new agriculture." Among these was Charles Towns- 
agriculture." hendj the g ran dfather of the author of the Towns- 
hend Acts, who was known as "Turnip Townshend," because of 

1 Review sec. 394. 2 Review sec. 13. 3 Review sees. 153, 232. 



THE AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION 505 

his successful experiments with turnip culture. The new agri- 
culture implied new crops ; more attention to grain, especially 
wheat ; better implements ; more thorough tillage ; and a more 
careful selection of live stock. * 

Before farming could be improved, however, the old system 
of strips and open fields would have to be swept away. The 

holdings could, as a rule, be distributed and en- 

iii c t i 1 Enclosures, 

closed only by consent of parliament ; but that 

body believed in greater profits from land and readily granted 
permission. The process of enclosing followed closely the new 
development of industry : during the first half of the eighteenth 
century only about one hundred enclosure acts were passed ; 
but .during the second half, the period of the great inventions 
that revolutionized manufacturing, parliament passed nearly 
3000 such acts. When the century closed, the larger part of 
rural England was laid off into compact farms and pastures 
surrounded by fences, hedges, and ditches. 

The results of the agricultural revolution were great and far- 
reaching. Scientific methods could now be employed in farm- 
ing ; a greater variety of crops were raised ; and the soil was 
made to yield larger returns. The wealth of Eng- Better 
land was increased and on the whole the entire * anmn g- 
nation was benefited. But there were also evil results : a 
large part of the rural population was forced off the land. The 
officials w T ho laid out the new farms no doubt tried to do justice 
to all who had any legal right to any part of the land ; but many 
had only a few acres and they had practically no choice but to 
sell to their wealthier neighbors ; some were lease-holders, whose 
rights expired with the lease ; many others had never had any 
right to the land which they tilled : they were "squatters" who 
had built huts somewhere on the commons where they could live 
until the community or the owner ordered them to leave. All 
these classes now had to seek new occupations. Many became 
hired laborers on the new r farms; but the greater Dispossession 
number packed up their belongings and traveled into and distress - 
the north where the new factories were calling for cheap labor. 



5 o6 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 

468. General Results of the Revolutions in Agriculture 
and Industry. These two movements were well under way by 
1750; but they were especially evident during the years of the 
great revolutions in America and France ; the process continued 
for about half a century. When it was completed England was 
to a great extent transformed. 

1. There had been a great decrease in the number of farms 

and farmers ; the farms were larger, some of them 
very large, and the small farmer had practically 
disappeared. 

2. There had appeared a new industrial institution, the 

factory ; the old system of home manufacture, the 
combination of a little agriculture with a little 
weaving or spinning, had also disappeared. 

3. Population had shifted from the country to the city, 
Shifting of from the agricultural south to the industrial north, 
population. where there were cotton mills, woolen mills, and 
iron works. 

4. Great social problems had appeared resulting from dis- 
social tress among the dispossessed farmers, the massing 
problems. f c heap labor in the factory towns, and the em- 
ployment of women and children in the textile mills. 

5. The products of England, both agricultural and indus- 
Increase in trial, were increasing at a rapid rate ; commerce was 
amount of forced to keep pace with this growth, and new 
products. economic methods and ideas became current ; the 
prophet of the newer economic thought was Adam Smith. 

469. Poor Laws and Pauperism. The enclosing of land 
was almost invariably followed by distress and greater poverty 
among the poor. The rise of the factory system had similar 
results. The wealth of the nation grew immensely, but the new 
profits went to a small class of wealthy farmers and rich em- 
ployers. To relieve the distress caused by the Tudor enclosures, 

the government of Queen Elizabeth had devised 

a system of poor relief, which England followed for 

more than two centuries. The poor laws gave the justices of 



POOR LAWS AND PAUPERISM 



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508 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 

the peace authority to fix wages in their localities, to force the 
lazy to work, and to assist the sick and the aged. For a century 
or more these laws were effective and beneficial ; but the changes 
in industry and agriculture that have been outlined above 
changed a benevolent scheme into a vicious system. Prices 
were rising, and the "high cost of living" became a stern fact. 
The justices of the peace were unwilling or unable to raise 
wages to a sufficiently high figure. In 1795 the justices of Berk- 
shire, feeling that relief must be given, decided to give help 
Extension of to the healthy laborer as well as to the aged and 
out-door rehef . i nnriTL The scheme was based on the cost of 
bread : if a man's wages were insufficient to buy the necessary 
food for his family, the officials of the parish were to provide 
the difference. 

The Berkshire plan was widely adopted and soon hundreds of 
thousands were deriving some support from the poor rates. The 
evils of the system promptly appeared. If the parish would 
provide the difference between his earnings and the cost of 
living, the laborer saw no reason why he should work more than 
was absolutely necessary. Similarly, the employer reasoned 
that there was no longer any need to pay high wages ; he might 
as well contribute to the support of his workmen when he paid 
Spread of his taxes. The result was that England with all 

pauperism. her wea lth, " the workshop of the world," sank 
into pauperism : a generation after the kind-hearted justices 
of Berkshire had begun to extend such general relief, one-sixth 
of the population of England looked to the poor rates and the 
parish officials for daily bread. 

470. Colonial Growth: India, Australia, and Canada. 1 
The loss of the thirteen American colonies was keenly felt ; 
but the greater part of the British Empire remained intact, 
and its area was constantly increasing. The expansion was 
Expansion most evident in northern India. In 1772, Warren 
in India. Hastings was appointed' governor of Bengal, and 

the next year he was made governor-general of all the East 

1 Innes, Industrial Development, 201-202. 



COLONIAL GROWTH : INDIA, AUSTRALIA, CANADA 509 



India Company's possessions. During his long administration 
of a dozen years, British authority was extended far up the 
Ganges valley and British influence spread into central India. 
Hastings' methods were harsh, at times almost criminal. On 
his return to England he was impeached but after a long trial 
acquitted. 

It was during this same period that England came into pos- 
session of Australia. 1 In 
1770 the great English 
navigator, Captain James 
Cook, explored Captain Cook : 
the coasts of Australia. 
New Zealand and south- 
eastern Australia. He took 
possession of the country 
for the British crown and 
named it New South 
Wales. No attempt was 
made to settle Australia 
before 1788, when a penal 
colony was established on 
Botany Bay. Convicts are 
poor colonists, and the de- 
velopment of Australia 
was slow at first ; but after 
the discovery of gold the 
population began to in- 
crease rapidly, and Australia is to-day one of the great self- 
governing colonies of the empire. 

The American Revolution had important results for the 
development of Canada. A large element in the thirteen col- 
onies had remained loyal to the English king, and xhe" Loyal- 
after the treaty of 1783 many of these " Tories" 
found it necessary to seek homes elsewhere. A 
large number migrated to Nova Scotia ; others settled in New 

1 Cheyney, No. 364. 




Captain Cook 
From a portrait by N. Dance. 



ists " in 
Canada. 



5i° 



THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 



Brunswick, which now became a separate colony ; but the 
greater number crossed the Niagara River and founded the new 
colony of Ontario (1784). These settlements determined the 
future of Canada : they gave the country an element that was 
intensely English and loyal to the empire, and which in time 
was to wrest the control of Canada from the French in Quebec. 
471. William Pitt and the New Tory Party. The decade 
that followed the close of 
the Revolution also wit- 
nessed a great change in the 
position of English political 
parties. In his earlier years 
The younger William Pitt 
Pltt - was a Whig; 

but his ideas as to the rights 
and powers of kingship and 
his conflict with the Whig 
leaders, notably with Fox, 
gradually forced him to take 
Tory ground. The Whigs 
believed that when the cabi- 
net is no longer supported 
by a majority in, the house 
of commons it should resign 
or call a new election. 
When Pitt became prime 
minister (1783) at the age 
of twenty-five, the house of 

commons was controlled by the " coalition," the followings of 
Fox and Lord North, who were acting together against the 
king. They expected to make short work of the youthful 
minister and voted down his measures time after time ; but 
Pitt did not resign, nor did he call an election before three 
months were past. Meanwhile, he had gathered a strong fol- 
lowing of his own during the conflict, and in the election the 
"coalition" was overwhelmed. Pitt's party developed into 




William Pitt, the Younger 
From a portrait by J. Hoppner. 



WILLIAM PITT AND THE NEW TORY PARTY 511 

a new Tory party, though the name was not used for more 
than a decade. The new Tories kept control of the The new 
house of commons for about half a century. Pitt Tory P art y- 
also transformed the house of lords into a Tory body ; this he 
accomplished by inducing the king to grant a large number 
of peerages, care being taken to confer the honors on men who 
could be depended upon to support the plans of the prime 
minister. 

William Pitt was not the sort of a Tory who believed that all 
changes are evil : he saw the need of reform in many lines and 
hoped to accomplish much for the betterment of English society. 
He wished to reform the representation in parlia- Reform policy 
ment ; * to abolish the slave trade; to establish of William 
free trade between England and Ireland; and he 1 ' 
had many other great causes at heart, but in the end he accom- 
plished very little for domestic reform. Unlike his great father, 
\he was a lover of peace and chiefly interested in the many 
domestic problems of the kingdom ; but, like the elder Pitt, 
he was called upon to lead Europe in a great war, the greatest 
series of wars in all history : the wars against the French 
Republic and the Emperor Napoleon. 

REFERENCES 

England in 'the eighteenth century. — Cross, History of England, 
c. xliv; Walker, Essentials in English History, c. xxxi; Wrong, History of the 
British Nation, c. xix. 

English literature in the eighteenth century. — Innes, History of 
England, 702-706; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 636-639. 

Methodism and the Evangelicals. — Beard, Introduction to the English 
Historians, 478-491 (Lecky); Cheyney, Short History of England, 551-555; 
Oman, History of England, 514-517; Ransome, Advanced History of E"n gland, 
761-764; Tout, 632-634. 

The agricultural revolution. — Innes, 695-697; Tout, 630-632. 

The industrial revolution. — Beard, 505-519 (Cunningham); Brown, 
Short History of Scotland, 565-572; Cheyney, 578-582; Gardiner, Student's 
History of England, 813-818; Innes, 697-702; Ransome, 850-853; Tout, 626- 
630. 

! ' Cheyney, Nos. 392-394; Kendall, No. 105; Tuell and Hatch, No. 64. 



5 i2 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 

Australia. — Woodward, Expansion of the British Empire, 262-266. 

Canada. — Woodward, 249-264. 

Reform projects of William Pitt. — Cross, 813-819; Fletcher, Intro- 
ductory History of England, II, i, c. ix; Gardiner, 806-812; Jenks, Parlia- 
mentary England, 274-304; Oman, 558-565; Rosebery, Pitt; Tout, 589-592. 



CHAPTER XXIV 
THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 

472. The French Revolution. 1 In the spring of 1789 a 
revolutionary movement broke out in France, which in a few 
years developed into a great international struggle involving 
nearly all the nations of Europe. The French Revolution had 
its center at the capital, but the movement was general all over 
the land, for local despots were to be found every- c auses of 
where. The common man had good reason to the French 
complain : the French peasant was still in a meas- 
ure afflicted with the burdens of villeinage which the English 
farmers had thrown off in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 2 
The masses had to bear the expenses of an extravagant govern- 
ment, while a comparatively small number of nobles and high 
officials in the church enjoyed the official honors and privi- 
leges. The French thinkers of the age had long agitated for 
social reforms ; yet it is not likely that their demands would 
have been heeded very soon ; for Louis XVI, w . ,„„ 

r t, r L ° U1S XVL 

in whose hands the fullness of power was supposed 
to rest, was a helpless and incapable, though well-meaning 
king. But the last war with England, the War of American 
Independence, had pushed the royal treasury far in the direction 
of bankruptcy ; 3 and the king was forced to call the Estates 
General, a body that roughly corresponded to the The Estates 
English parliament. This body had not met for General - 
one hundred and seventy-five years. In many ways the history 
of the sessions of the Estates General and the assemblies 
that succeeded it resembled that of the Long Parliament in 
England. In both cases many enduring reforms were enacted; 

1 Gardiner, 820-821. 2 Robinson, Nos. 169-170. 3 Ibid., No. 178. 

513 



514 THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 

and in both cases the legislative body went farther than the 
Outcome of times would permit. In France as in England 
the Revolu- the movement led to the trial and execution of 
the king and to the establishment of a republic. 
In both cases the revolution produced a dictator. And in 
both cases the movement ended with a restoration of the 
old dynasty and in part of the old system. There are, of 
course, also certain notable differences : the French had 
suffered longer and more keenly than the English and were 
more united in their demands. As England was an island 
kingdom and therefore almost inaccessible to foreign armies, 
and as the rest of Europe was at the time engaged in the Thirty 
Years' War, England was allowed to finish her civil conflict 
without interference from abroad ; while in France the revolu- 
tionists had to face and fight the combined armies of the Euro- 
pean despots, who trembled lest the French movement should 
extend to their own monarchies. And the leadership of this 
reactionary alliance was forced upon England and upon the 
reluctant prime minister, William Pitt. 

473. England and the Revolution. The course of the 
Revolution in France at first produced much satisfaction in 
Attitude of England. Cowper and Wordsworth watched the 
the English progress of events with much enthusiasm ; Cole- 
ridge 'expressed the same feeling in fervid poetry : 

"When France in wrath her giant limbs upreared, 
And with that oath, which smote air, earth, and sea, 
Stamped her strong foot, and said she would be free, 
Bear witness for me, how I hoped and feared." 

But when news came of changes by violent instead of strictly 
legal means, the early enthusiasm began to cool. The first 
important political result of the Revolution in England appeared 
in the Whig party, which was split in twain and practically 
ruined. Fox was enthusiastic for the uprising of the French ; 
Attitude of and when he heard of the destruction of the Bastille 
Fox# he proclaimed it "the greatest event . . . that ever 

happened in the world ; " and not only the greatest but the best. 



THE OUTBREAK OF WAR WITH FRANCE. 1793 515 

But his old friend Edmund Burke was cool and suspicious from 
the first. Burke believed that institutions, whether social or 
political, that had grown up through a long period Edmund 
of time must have certain merits of their own Burke on the 
and should not be tampered with. When he Revolution - 
learned that the French were beginning to remodel their con- 
stitution, his coolness developed into deep resentment and 
anger. In 1790 he published his Reflections on the French 
Revolution, 1 which became the storehouse from which all who 
opposed the French movement drew their chief arguments. In 
the Reflections Burke condemned the new revolutionary prin- 
ciples of Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality, and showed how, 
in pretended obedience to these principles, the revolutionists 
had committed great wrongs and even crimes. The same 
year he broke with his old friend Fox ; and under Burke's 
leadership the more conservative Whigs drifted into an alliance 
with Pitt's new Tory party into which they were Split in the 
after a time wholly absorbed. The Whigs were Whig party, 
left in a sad plight : it was said that all the Whig members 
of parliament could find room in a single coach, though Fox 
insisted that they needed at least two. 

474. The Outbreak of War with France. 1793. 2 Wil- 
liam Pitt had been mildly favorable to the Revolution in its 

earlier stages ; but he, too, soon developed a strong 

' -rx- 1. , Policy of Pitt, 

aversion to the movement. His policy was, how- 
ever, to maintain the peace and to leave the French to settle 
their affairs and difficulties without interference from England. 
But every day violence grew more common and pronounced 
across the Channel ; and every day the hatred of conservative 
England for revolutionary methods grew more intense. 3 Still, 
the movement had gone on for nearly four years Causes of 
before actual war broke out between England and the war with 
France. Three events forced this outcome: (1) in France * 
November, 1792, the French Convention, which had suc- 

1 Cheyney, No. 395; Gardiner, 822-823; Kendall, No. 123. 

2 Gardiner, 824-825. 3 Kendall, No. 124. 



5 i6 THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 

ceeded the Estates General, invited all Europe to join in the 
Revolution and offered to assist any people that wished to 
overthrow what the French called despotism ; (2) French armies 
had seized the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium) and were threat- 
ening to invade and annex the Dutch Republic ; (3) in January' 
1793, the French government executed the king, Louis XVI; 
London put on mourning, while Paris rejoiced. Both sides 
realized that war between the two countries was unavoidable. 
England might not feel called upon to avenge the Bourbon 
dynasty, or even to punish the French for inciting dissatisfied 
Britons to revolt ; but she could not allow France to annex 

her old commercial rival, the Dutch Republic. 

France realized the situation and on February 1, 
1793, the new Republic declared war on England. 

475. The Reign of Terror and the English Reaction. 1 
Soon after midsummer of the same year, conditions at Paris 
The Reign drifted into what is known as the Reign of Terror : 
of Terror in the men in control of the Republic strove to destroy 

the enemies of the new system by the use of the 
guillotine. For nearly a year this terrible period lasted. The 
same years, 1 793-1 794, a strange panic seized and held the gov- 
erning classes in England. Burke's Reflections called forth 
a number of animated replies, some of which attained a wide 
circulation ; an abusive pamphlet by Thomas Paine called the 
Rights of Man sold to the extent of more than a million copies in 
The panic in a short time. In 1792 the government issued a 
England. proclamation against such "seditious writings" 

and parliament was induced to pass several acts directed against 
harmless political clubs and even against men who agitated 
for reasonable and much needed reforms. In applying these 
and other laws that might cover the offenses, the British courts 

often went to an indefensible extreme. A Scotch 

Political trials. , 

lawyer, Thomas Muir, was sentenced to trans- 
portation for fourteen years for agitating in favor of universal 
suffrage and annual elections for members of parliament. There 

1 Gardiner, 826-830. 



WILLIAM PITT AND THE EUROPEAN COALITIONS 517 

were several other convictions for like offenses; but in 1794, 
when the Terror was past in France, the panic subsided in 
England and English juries began to refuse to convict political 
offenders. 

476. William Pitt and the European Coalitions. In 1793 
France was at war with Prussia, Austria, the Dutch Republic, 
and England. Other nations took up arms against the Revolu- 




The Bank of England 

From an engraving of 1827 by Thomas H. Shepherd. 



tion later on. It was Pitt's plan to organize the enemies of 
France into great alliances or coalitions, after the ex- Pitt's system 
ample of William III in his wars with Louis XIV. 1 of coalitions. 
England had no large standing army ; and William Pitt there- 
fore had to depend on the forces of the Continental states to fight 
the French on land. It was to be England's task to fight the Re- 
public on the ocean, to destroy the French navy, and to ruin the 
enemy's trade. England also sent soldiers to the Continent, but 
for some years these expeditions were of lesser importance. 

England further agreed to furnish her allies with the neces- 
sary funds to equip their armies. For a number of years this 

1 Review sec. 391. 



51 8 THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 

practice of giving financial assistance to Prussia, Austria, and 
other states was continued ; the war, as a result, 

Subsidies. . 

came to be very expensive to the English. Pitt 

did not believe that France could keep up the fight very long, 

and proposed to carry on the war with borrowed money. But 

after the national debt had been enormously increased, England 

had to resort to new forms of taxation among which 
New taxes. . . . 

was a tax on incomes which was levied in 1798. 

The income tax was very unpopular and after a time was wholly 
dropped ; later it was revived, however, and it is still an im- 
portant source of national revenue. 

Pitt's plans were not wholly successful. The British fleet 
won a series of brilliant victories, but in the fighting on land 
most of the battles were won by the French. The Republic 
crushed her enemies the one after the other. England alone 
refused to yield. Except for a brief year of peace, the war 
continued till France was overwhelmed on the field of Waterloo 
in 1815. 

477. The Battles of St. Vincent and Camperdown. 1 1797. 
Early in 1795 the French conquered the Dutch and transformed 
their country into a dependent state to be called the Batavian 
France an- Republic. The following year Spain renewed her 
nexes the old alliance with France. The French govern- 

Netherlands. m ^ t ^^ ^^ the commana i Q f t h ree fleets I those 

of France, Spain, and the Netherlands. It was planned to 
use these in an attack on England and in an invasion of 
Ireland, where a strong revolutionary movement was being 
organized. 2 But the Spaniards never came into the Channel. 
Admiral Jarvis, who commanded the English navy in the 
Mediterranean, came upon the Spanish fleet off Cape St. 
Vincent on the coast of Portugal and annihilated a large part 
Commodore of it. One of his captains was Commodore Nel- 
Neison. son, 3 and in this battle the great admiral first 

showed his wonderful abilities in naval warfare. Later in the 
same year, the Dutch fleet was defeated at Camperdown on 

1 Gardiner, 835-837. 2 Ibid., 831-834. 3 Bates and Coman, 366-373. 



THE BATTLE OF THE NILE. 1798 



519 



the coast of Holland. Nine of the fifteen ships engaged were 
taken by the English. The French had intended to use this 
fleet in their projected descent upon Ireland ; that danger was 
now past. For the time being all plans looking toward the 
invasion of England also had to be given up. 

478. The Battle of the Nile. 1798. In 1795, Napoleon 
Bonaparte first appears prominently in the history of France ; 

and the next year he be- 
gan his wonderful mili- 
tary career with his first 
campaign in Italy. After 
the defeat on the sea of 
the allies of France, Na- 
poleon planned to strike 
England in Napoleon's 
the Orient. 1 Oriental plans. 

Apparently he hoped to 
get a secure foothold in 
Egypt and Syria, and 
from these regions he 
may have planned to 
bring assistance to the 
rebels in India who were 
striving to oust the East 
India Company. With a 
large fleet he sailed to 
Egypt in the summer of 
1708. But 4rTno 

' y 1798. 

Nelson, who 

had been watching the French outside Toulon, sailed in 
search of Napoleon and found his fleet at anchor in a bay on 
the Egyptian coast not far from Alexandria. The battle began 
in the evening and was fought all night. The Battle of 
English fleet was badly damaged; but every one the Nlle- 
of the French ships was destroyed or finally taken by the 

1 Robinson, No. 199; Gardiner, 837-838. 




Napoleon 
From the painting by Paul Delaroche. 



520 



THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 



English. With the loss of his fleet Napoleon was cut off from 
France ; and his Oriental projects, whatever they may have 
been, became impossible. 

479. The Battle of Copenhagen. 1801. Napoleon now 
decided to strike at England through her commerce. The 
English success at sea had ruined the carrying trade of France 
and her allies, and the commerce of the Continental states was 
carried on in the ships of a few neutral nations, chiefly Denmark, 
Sweden, and the United States. England had for a long time 
insisted, however, that goods destined for a hostile port could 
be seized even when carried by a neutral ship. She therefore 
claimed and exercised the right of searching neutral cargoes for 
Difficulties goods intended for France or any of her allies. 
of neutral American ships were seized and searched even on 

the high seas. Still worse was the position of the 
Baltic states: to reach the ports of France and Spain their 
merchant vessels had to pass down the Channel where British 
war ships were constantly on guard. 

A somewhat similar situation had existed twenty years earlier 
during the American Revolution, and the Baltic states had met 
League of ^ with an alliance called the "League of Armed 
Armed Neutrality." l On the suggestion of Napoleon, 

Russia took steps to revive this alliance, and all 
British ships in Russian harbors were seized (1800). As the 
greater part of the supplies needed for the British navy came 
from the Baltic lands, England could not afford to lose the 
trade in those quarters. Early in 1801 an English fleet was 
sent into the Baltic to break up the "League." Admiral 
Parker was in charge of the expedition with Nelson as second 

_ , in command. The fleet attacked and bombarded 

The bom- 

bardment of Copenhagen. 2 The Danes returned such an effec- 
Copenhagen. t j ve f| re t j iat Admiral Parker, who was several 
miles away, thought it best to retire. But when 
Nelson's attention was called to the admiral's signals, he placed 
the glass before his blind eye and assured his men that he saw 

1 Review sec. 451. 2 Gardiner, 844-845. 



THE REVOLT OF IRELAND 521 

no signals. The Danes were finally forced to yield : Russia 
made peace with England, and the League disbanded. 

By 1 801, England had overcome and crippled the fleets of all 
the other maritime powers in Europe. The fleet of Spain had 
been defeated at St. Vincent; the Dutch navy had Naval 
been cut to pieces at Camperdown. The French victories. 
Mediterranean fleet had been ruined in the Nile. 
And finally the Danish navy had been crippled at Copenhagen. 
In three of these four battles it was the genius of Lord Nelson 
that won the victory. 

480. The Revolt of Ireland. While England was sweeping 
her enemies off the sea, her supremacy in the British Isles was 
being seriously endangered by a revolutionary movement in 
Ireland. In 1783, the Irish parliament had been given com- 
plete legislative independence ; but the new freedom brought 
no profit to the island, for the Dublin parliament refused to 
pass certain very necessary reform laws. It was not a repre- 
sentative body and was deeply tainted with corruption. Many 
of the old notorious penal laws were still on the Irish 
statute books, and neither Catholic nor Presby- dis content. 
terian was allowed to share in the government. An Anglican 
minority was in complete control. During the decade before 
the war with France a number of secret societies came into 

existence in Ireland, among which were the 

Orangemen. 
Orangemen of Ulster, who were anti-Catholic, 

and the United Irishmen, 1 an organization that hoped to unite 

the men of all churches in a fight for Irish freedom and an Irish 

republic. The French Revolution stimulated these United 

movements. William Pitt believed in generous Inshmen - 

treatment of the Irish : he favored allowing free trade between 

the two islands and planned to give full political rights to the 

Irish Catholics. 2 But his plans were thwarted : the English 

parliament would not listen to the suggestion of Pitt's Irish 

free trade, and George III would not consider P° hc y- 

giving political rights to his Catholic subjects. Beginning with 

1 Innes, II, 257-260. - Ibid., II, 261-266. 



522 THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 

1795, there was much rioting in Ireland; and in 1798 active 
rebellion broke out. The government was well in- 
formed, however, as to the plans of the revolu- 
tionists; the uprising was soon crushed and the principal 
leaders were executed. 

481. The Union of Great Britain and Ireland. 1801. Wil- 
liam Pitt now determined to unite the British Isles into one 
kingdom. Great Britain and Ireland already had a common 
The plan for king » ^ut ^^ tt a ^ so wante( i a single parliament, 
a legislative His plan was to transform the parliament at 
union. Westminster into a British parliament by adding 

a certain number of Irish lords and representatives. In return 
for the surrender of Irish nationality he offered to give freedom 
of trade to the island and political rights to the Catholics; 
he was even willing to give his financial support to the Irish 
Catholic clergy. His scheme had to be carried through both 
parliaments. It was readily accepted at Westminster ; but 
How the union the Dublin parliament offered difficulties. A consid- 
was carried, erable number of Irish members had to be heavily 
bribed before they would consent to surrender Irish nationality. 1 
The measure was finally passed, however, and the union became 
a fact on January 1, 1801. Ireland was given thirty- two seats in 
the English house of lords and one hundred and one in the house 
of commons. 2 

Pitt's intentions were good, but his methods in this particular 
transaction were anything but clean. And after the union had 
been formed, the prime minister was unable to redeem his promise 
to the Catholics. George III remained obdurate : it had been 
George III represented to him, that whereas he had sworn 
and the to support the Anglican church, he would break his 

oath if he allowed the Catholics to share in the 
government, for this would reduce the power of the Anglican 
church ; moreover the king could not think of giving financial 
aid to the Catholic clergy. Under the circumstances there was 
nothing for Pitt to do but to resign his office. When he returned 

1 Gardiner, 842. 2 Cheyney, No. 396; Masterman, 182-184. 



THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR. 1805 523 

to power three years later, King George first made him promise 
never again to bring up the matter of Catholic emancipation 
during the king's lifetime. 

482. The Peace of Amiens and the Renewal of War. 
After Pitt had resigned, the English and French governments 
began to negotiate for peace and a treaty was Treaty of 
signed at Amiens in 1802. In this treaty England Amiens - 1802 - 
surrendered practically everything that she had fought for so 
long. Napoleon was now in full control of the French Repub- 
lic as First Consul ; and England soon realized that the imperial 
ambitions of the mighty Corsican could not be bound by 
treaties. After a year of peace, fighting was renewed. The 
following year (1804) William Pitt once more Pitt's second 
became the chief of the English government. On mmistr y- 
the same day Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of 
the French. 

483. The Battle of Trafalgar. 1805. 1 The Emperor Na- 
poleon now began to plan an invasion of England and col- 
lected a large force in northern France apparently „ 

in r Napoleon's 

for such an undertaking. The fleets of France plans to 

and Spain had been rebuilt ; and Napoleon ordered ™™de 

England, 
them to proceed to the English Channel in united 

force. Accordingly the French Mediterranean fleet sailed for 

the Atlantic. Lord Nelson, who commanded the British naval 

forces in the Mediterranean, sailed in pursuit and once more 

ruined Napoleon's plans. Later in the year he fell in with the 

combined fleets at Cape Trafalgar on the south- „, , , 

^ to Trafalgar, 

western coast of Spain. " England expects every 

man to do his duty" was the 'signal that he had flashed to his 

captains. 2 The signal was heeded. The enemies' ships were 

nearly all taken or destroyed. But when the battle was over 

the great admiral was no more. When the news Death of 

of the victory reached England, there was little Lord Nelson - 

rejoicing ; for the nation felt that Trafalgar had been dearly 

bought. 3 

- 1 Gardiner, 851-854. 2 Cheyney, No. 400. 3 Ibid., No. 401. 



524 



THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 






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Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October, 1805 



Lord Nelson's work was done. Neither France nor her allies 
were able to put another fleet upon the ocean. The few hostile 
ships that remained at Antwerp, Brest, and Cadiz were gradually 
gathered in by the English captains. With the battle of Trafal- 
gar the naval phase of the great war practically came to a close. 
484. Austerlitz. The Death of Pitt. Earlier in the year 
William Pitt had succeeded in organizing Austria, Russia, 
Napoleon in England, and other enemies of Napoleon into a 
new coalition against France. When Napoleon 
realized that his plans for an invasion of Great 
Britain could not be carried out, he marched his army swiftly 



Germany and 
Austria. 



AUSTERLITZ. THE DEATH OF PITT 



525 



through Germany into Austria where the coalition had massed 

its forces. Six weeks after the battle of Trafalgar, he crushed 

the combined armies of Russia and Austria on the 

field of Austerlitz. To the men of the time Aus- 

terlitz loomed much larger than Trafalgar. William Pitt had 



1805. 




Lord Nelson 

After the painting by Charles Lucy, "Nelson in the cabin of the Victory. 



always been in frail health ; the news of Austerlitz found him 

ill in body, and his spirit could not endure the 

L1 T T , ,. , . . r , Death of Pitt. 

blow. In January he died, despairing of the 

future of his country. 1 He did not understand that Nelson's 

last victory had secured the safety of England. 

1 Gardiner, 854-855; Kendall, No. 127 (Scott). 



526 THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 

After his death the government of England came into the 
hands of a group of men most of whom were of mediocre abili- 
Canning and ties. The ablest were George Canning, a brilliant 
Castiereagh. orator and writer, who was for some time the sec- 
retary for foreign affairs, and Lord Castiereagh, who served 
first in the war office and later in the foreign office. Both were 
uncompromising opponents of Napoleon and both were Tories, 
though on some questions it was believed that Canning held 
broader and more liberal views than Castiereagh. 

485. The Continental System. 1 In the two years follow- 
ing his victory at Austerlitz, Napoleon overwhelmed the forces 
The treaty of of Prussia and Russia. The Tsar thought it ad- 
Tilsit, visable to make peace with France and the two em- 
perors met at Tilsit (1807) where they agreed to divide the 
world between them, Napoleon to take the West and Tsar 
Alexander to have free hands in the Orient. Once more 
France was at peace with all Europe except with England. 
But England could not be conquered and would not make 
peace. 

Napoleon now reverted to his earlier plan of striking at Eng- 
Napoleon plans land through her commerce. There were two 
commercial neutral fleets in Europe that he intended to use in 
warfare. ^ attack . those f Denmark and Portugal. 

When England learned of Napoleon's plans, the government 

sent a fleet and an army to Denmark to seize the Danish navy. 

Copenhagen was once more bombarded and the 

Second bom- x . . 

bardment of Danes were compelled to surrender their ships. 

Copenhagen. j n ^g case Q f Portugal more peaceful methods were 

employed. Since the days of Charles II there 

had been a friendly understanding between England and 

England and Portugal. The prince regent was induced to leave 

Portugal. Lisbon and take his fleet and his family to Brazil, 

which was a Portuguese colony. 

Napoleon believed that if the Continent could be induced to 

discontinue all trade with Great Britain, starvation would force 

1 Innes, Industrial Development, 204-205; Robinson, Nos. 207-20S. 



THE WAR WITH AMERICA 527 

the island kingdom to accept his terms of peace. He therefore 
adopted a policy that is known as the Continental system. 
By a series of " Decrees" he practically forbade The 
his allies to trade with England ; what products Napoleonic 
they needed they should buy from other Continen- ecrees - 
tal states or produce within their own borders. All English or 
English colonial goods should be destroyed wherever they were 
found. 

England replied to these decrees with a series of " Orders in 
Council," which virtually closed every European port from 
which the English merchant flag was excluded. The English 
No neutral ship could safely enter any such harbor " Orders in 
unless it had first touched at a British port. And ounc 
if a trading vessel did enter a British port, it was regarded by 
the French as a lawful prize which might be seized anywhere. 

The Continental system failed in its purpose to ruin English 
commerce, but it had other important results. (1) It caused 
much distress and dissatisfaction in the states allied to France. 
Tropical products like coffee, tea, and sugar had Results of 
become necessities in the Continental households ; the commer- 
and a system of government that deprived the 
people of these could not fail to become intensely unpopular. 

(2) It forced Napoleon into new wars of conquest ; for unless 
every nation on the Continent could be made obedient to the 
"decrees," English wares would find their way into European 
ports, and Napoleon's commercial warfare would end in defeat. 

(3) It was one of the causes that brought on the War of 181 2 
with America. 

486. The War with America. 1 The nation that suffered 
most from this commercial warfare was the United States. 
The Americans had no part in the Napoleonic wars and as a 
consequence a large share of the world's trade came causes of the 
into their hands. The contention of the English American War 
government that the English captains had a right 
to search neutral ships was a great irritation to the American 

1 Gardiner, 872-873. 



52i 



THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 



traders; but when the Napoleonic " decrees" and the English 
"orders" were issued, serious trouble came to the American 
merchant marine. President Jefferson believed that Europe 



EUROPE 

ABOUT L812 

Scale of Miles 

ES3 The Napoleonic Empire 
f '". ' Vassal states of Napoleon 
1=1 Stale allied wuth Napoleon 

I Mr £'S/; 



"~" 



4k 







- 








fine £ •Brfstfen? 
-^ jtmiens V MaTnr[ WTOt \" Austerliv . y i 



f^l^^^^^^ ^ 



ml?--'* 



.. .1ft 

~> I >5? / vitori s . s i r > s ^ii\ii 



'Toulon 






■ .\?.v ■ 



W«\ {HdrcelonsJ 



_^> — " -• * 'Say '/en 






1^ 







Lon£ilu4e West from 



Longitude East from Greenwich 10° 



was so dependent on the American shipping that a suspension 
The American * tra de would soon bring the contending parties 
embargo. to terms. He accordingly induced Congress to 

1807 ' pass an Embargo Act which forbade American 

ships to leave American ports. The embargo was ruinous to 
American commerce; and, though it worked great hardship 



THE WAR WITH AMERICA 529 

both in England and on the Continent, it made no impres- 
sion on the European situation. After a year the The Non _ 
embargo was lifted ; but the repeal was followed intercourse 
by a Non-intercourse Act, by which trade with 
England and France was forbidden. 

Another source of irritation was the English practice of 
searching American ships for English deserters. Service in the 
English navy was hard ; the wages were low ; the Search and 
fare was bad; and the treatment of offenders was im P re ssment. 
often cruel, flogging being a common form of punishment. 
Just after the battle of St. Vincent there were two serious mu- 
tinies in the navy. 1 Conditions were somewhat improved after 
1797, but the naval service remained hard and burdensome. 
Consequently, there were frequent desertions. The constant 
increase in the British naval forces as the war progressed cre- 
ated a demand for sailors which was hard to supply. It was 
often difficult to tell an English deserter from an American 
sailor ; and frequently American citizens were seized on the 
barest suspicion and forced into the British service. If the 
sailor was of British birth, American citizenship was no protec- 
tion ; for it was held in England that allegiance to the crown 
could not be legally renounced: "once an Englishman, always 
an Englishman." 

The Continental system did not wholly stop European com- 
merce. So great was the need of English and American prod- 
ucts in France that Napoleon found it advisable Licensed and 
to permit a licensed importation to a certain ex- unlicensed 
tent. There was also much unlicensed and irregu- 
lar trade ; this was hazardous, but where the venture succeeded 
it was also profitable. It is not likely that the interference 
with American trade and the impressment of American seamen 
would have brought on war : the New England New E ng i an d 
shipowners, who suffered most from English ag- opposed to 
gression, were strongly opposed to war. The war 
of 181 2 was brought on by a party in Congress led by Henry 

1 Gardiner, 836. 



530 THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 

Clay and composed chiefly of Southern and Western members, 
who thought the moment a favorable one for the annexation of 
Canada. 

England did not desire war with America. When Castle- 
reagh understood that the war party was in the saddle in Wash- 
Orders in ington, he withdrew the orders in council and thus 
council removed the chief grievance. But two days later 
withdrawn. ^j une ig) and before any Rews q£ England > s in _ 

tentions had reached America, Congress declared war against 
Great Britain. 

In the war of 1812, neither side gained any great credit. 
The United States was poorly prepared, and England had first 
American naval of all to watch Napoleon, whose armies were now 
victories. j n R uss i a . On the sea the American navy won a 

series of brilliant victories in a number of duels between single 
ships ; and in the battle of Lake Erie Commodore Perry took 
an entire squadron of British ships. On land, however, honors 
were more even. In 1813 the war degenerated into a series of 
raids. Gradually the Americans came to realize the folly of 
carrying on the contest, especially after the overthrow of Na- 
The treaty of poleon, and an effort was made to secure peace. 
Ghent. 1814. After long negotiations a treaty was signed at 
Ghent in December, 1814. ' In the treaty no mention was 
made of search and impressment ; but now that the Great 
War was over there was no need to discuss those questions : 
England was dismissing instead of impressing seamen. Since 
the treaty of Ghent there has been a century of unbroken 
peace between England and America. 

487. The Downfall of Napoleon. The treaty of Tilsit 
marks the highest point of Napoleon's career; the following 
year (1808) the decline began. In that year he dethroned the 
The Spanish incompetent Spanish king and gave the throne to 
war of his own brother Joseph. The Spaniards objected 

to the change of dynasty and rose in revolt every- 
where. This uprising Napoleon was unable to quell. The 
English government sent prompt aid to the Spanish rebels, 



THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 531 

and for five years English armies were operating in Spain. 1 
Among the British generals were Sir John Moore 2 
and Arthur Wellesley, better known as the Duke of 
Wellington, who finally succeeded in driving the French out of 




Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington 
From an engraving by R. Scanlan. 

the Spanish peninsula. In 18 10 Russia, wearied of the commer- 
cial warfare, opened her ports to the world's trade. Napoleon in 
Napoleon at once began to prepare for an invasion Russia - 1812 - 
of Russia. In 181 2 he advanced to Moscow and entered the 

1 Gardiner, 862-870. 

- Bates and Coman, 377-378 (Wolfe, Burial of Sir John Moore). 



532 THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 

city; but only a fragment of his vast army returned to the 
west. Bad food, illness, snow, and severe cold had done what 
Russian soldiers could not do. 

Prussia now rose in revolt (1813). Austria declared war on 
Napoleon later in the year. The genius of the great Corsican 
The Battle of an< ^ tne va ^ or °f tne French were as great as ever ; 
the Nations. but Napoleon's resources were now almost ex- 
hausted. At Leipsic, in the Battle of the Nations, 
his new army was crushed ; his capital was seized ; he was 
forced to abdicate and was allowed to retire to Elba, 1 a little 
island of less than one hundred square miles in area. It proved 
The return too small to interest the mighty Napoleon ; in less 
from Elba. than a year he was again in France. The Euro-, 
pean powers at once prepared to drive him from Europe. The 
final campaign was fought in Belgium where the allies had two 
armies, one commanded by Wellington and composed chiefly 
Waterloo. of English and Hanoverian troops, and a Prussian 

June 18, 1815. arm y under Blucher. The last battle was fought 
at Waterloo, 2 where Wellington was the victor. Napoleon 
was exiled to the rock of St. Helena. 3 

Meanwhile the rulers and diplomats of Europe had gathered 
at Vienna to reconstruct the map of Europe. In this so-called 
" congress" England was represented by Castlereagh ; Welling- 
ton joined him later. It was the purpose of the congress to 
restore as far as possible the conditions that prevailed before 
1789. In this, however, the reactionary diplomats were not 
Results of wholly successful. The French Revolution had 
the French given the old absolutistic regime a blow from which 
it never recovered. The movement had swept 
away feudal privileges, inefficient institutions, and much worn- 
out governmental machinery, and these could not be restored. 
On the other hand,' the Revolution had built up a new govern- 
mental regime for France based on popular consent ; and to a 
large extent the new constitutional system and guarantees were 

1 Robinson, No. 218. 3 Cheyney, No. 404. 

2 Bates and Coman, 379-380 (Byron). 



SUMMARY 533 

allowed to remain. During the Great War the principles of 
the Revolution found their way into almost every part of 
western Europe, where they took root and produced a harvest 
of important changes in due time. Especially was this true of 
the countries that had for a time come under the direct or in- 
direct control of Napoleon. 1 

488. Colonial Expansion. 2 One of the results of the Great 

War was the annexation of certain very important colonial 

possessions to the British Empire. From the Growth of the 

French England took the island of Mauritius. British Em P*re. 

Trinidad and Tobago, two islands in the West Indies, were 

taken from Spain. Cape Colony at the southern extremity of 

Africa and what is now called British Guiana in South America 

were taken from the Dutch. The large and valuable island of 

Ceylon became a British possession in 1795. Malta in the 

Mediterranean Sea was seized by Napoleon when on the way 

to Egypt ; two years later it was occupied by the English and 

was never returned. During the war there had , ,. 

. India, 

been much trouble in India ; in the end, however, 

the English were victorious everywhere and large territories in 

Southern India and in the Ganges Valley were added to the 

dominions of the East India Company. 3 

489. Summary. The French Revolution began in 1789, but 
England was not drawn into the struggle before 1793. During 
the first four years of the war, England and the allied states 
had but slight success; but in 1797 began a series of naval 
victories that swept the power of France and her allies from the 
ocean. The series includes the battles of St. Vincent, Camper- 
down, the Nile, Copenhagen, Trafalgar, and many lesser en- 
gagements. Unable to overcome England in any other way, 
Napoleon sought to ruin the country by crushing its trade. 
The commercial warfare lasted for several years but failed in 
its purpose. In 1808 Spain rose against Napoleon and the 

1 On the larger European aspects of the French Revolution see Robinson, Western 
Europe, cc. xxxv-xxxviii, especially 567-574, 599-600, 622. 

2 Gardiner, 844, 858-859. 3 Cheyney, No. 450. 



534 THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 

"Wars of Liberation" began. In these England had a large 
part ; it was Wellington who drove the French out of Spain and 
it was Wellington who finally defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. 

The chief results of these wars for English history were three : 
(i) they left England without a rival on the ocean; (2) the 
Results of the British Empire was widely extended at the expense 
Great War. Q f tne ther colonizing powers ; (3) the war con- 
sumed all the energies of the nation to the neglect of domestic 
matters, and when peace finally came, England had the prob- 
lems of a generation to solve. 

REFERENCES 

The French Revolution. — Cross, History of England, 812-828; Innes, 
History of England, 712-717; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 854- 
861; Rosebery, Pitt, c. vi; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 593-597. 

Ireland at the close of the eighteenth century. — Fletcher, Intro- 
ductory History of England, II, ii, 91-105; Jenks, Parliamentary England, 248- 
255; Ransome, 876-878; Rosebery, 172-188. 

The union with Ireland. — Fletcher, II, ii, 105-109; Innes, 738-742; 
Jenks, 308-317; Johnston and Spencer, Ireland's Story, c. xxvi; Lawless, 
Ireland, c. liv; Ransome, 878-880; Rosebery, 188-200. 

Trafalgar. — Fletcher, II, ii, 61-67; Innes, 746-749. 

Pitt. — Rosebery, c. xv. 

The Continental System. — Fletcher, II, ii, 234-242; Innes, 749-753. 

The Waterloo campaign. — Cross, 862-865; Fletcher, II, ii, 297-315; 
Innes, 767-774; Morris, Wellington, c. ix; Ransome, 906-910. 

Colonial growth during the Great War. — Woodward, Expansion of 
the British Empire, 296-301. 



CHAPTER XXV 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS 

490. The Nineteenth Century. The nineteenth century was 
a period of vast changes in the social, political, and industrial 
arrangements of the United Kingdom. In general these changes 
have grown out of a purpose to give the masses a The growth of 
larger share in the government of the kingdom, in dem <>cracy. 
the rewards and wages of industry, and in the social benefits of 
the age. The keynote of the nineteenth century is democracy. 
The process of change has not been continuous, nor has it 
wholly been the work of the reforming elements of the nation. 
At times the interest in foreign affairs and in the problems of 
the empire has diverted the attention from domestic ills ; 
but the agitation for reform has never been quieted, and the 
process still goes on. 

Of the many elements that have contributed to the recon- 
struction of English society, the industrial revolution was 
doubtless the greatest. The changes in themeth- The revolution 
ods of manufacturing, the increase in production in industry and 
and commerce, and the shifting of the population a s ncuture - 
to the northern counties of England have been sketched in an 
earlier chapter. 1 The revolution in industry and agriculture 
went on for half a century or more, but no legal adjustment 
came before the close of the period. The old laws were applied 
to the new conditions, and the result was that much hardship 
had to be endured. For this failure to recognize the new con- 
ditions in legislation, the French Revolution and The p rench 
the consequent wars were largely responsible : the Revolution and 
excesses committed by the government of the new * e reactlon 
republic shocked the ruling classes in England and produced a 

1 Review sscs. 462-468. 
535 



536 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS 

violent reaction even among men of liberal minds. 1 The Eng- 
lishmen who were invested with authority steeled themselves 
against all changes that might seem to favor the laboring mul- 
titudes. The only important reform during the twenty-two 
years of war with the French was the abolition of the slave 
trade (1807). 

491. Distress and Discontent. 2 But after the Congress of 
Vienna had brought peace and quiet to the distracted nations 
Peace followed of Europe, the distressed condition of English 
by distress. society was brought home to English minds. The 
men who had been sure that peace would bring happiness and 
prosperity were keenly disappointed to find that misery seemed 
to be even more widely felt, and that in many quarters there 
was actual starvation. In country and in town the conditions 
were very much the same. Large meetings were held which 
sometimes ended in riots. Laborers who were out of work 
and could get no employment went about smashing machines. 
Loud protests came to the government from every part of the 
Governmental realm. The ministry, which was Tory of the sort 
repression. t h at WO rships the past and all existing institutions, 
replied with repression. 3 Every movement that threatened 
the cozy quiet of the ruling classes was put down with unusual 
severity. 

The causes of this general discontent were various, but they 
may be grouped under three heads. (1) The long war had on 
Causes of the the whole been beneficial to agriculture and indus- 
distress. tr y^ f or ^ e government had spent a vast amount 

of money every year in purchasing provisions and other supplies 
for the army and the navy. When the war ended, there was 
no longer any demand from this direction, and many workmen 
suddenly found themselves out of employment. The soldiers 
and sailors who were now dismissed were another disturbing 
factor in the labor market. (2) The crop of 1816 was a failure, 
and in the summer of that year food products sold at a higher 
price than perhaps ever before in English history. (3) But the 

1 Review sec. 475. 2 Gardiner, 876-879. 3 Cheyney, No. 408. 



THE PROBLEMS OF THE PEACE 537 

greatest cause was the abuses that had grown up with the new 
factory system ; these could be removed by legislation only. 

492. The Problems of the Peace. In 181 5 and the follow- 
ing decade, there were four well defined types of grievances 
that the government was called upon to correct. 

1. Religious Disabilities. Of the population of the United 
Kingdom there were large classes that had not yet been given 
full political rights. The Anglican in England and Ireland and 
the Presbyterian in Scotland possessed the usual catholics and 
privileges of citizenship ; but Catholic and Protes- Protestant 
tant dissenters could not sit in parliament or lssenters - 
hold any office. The disability was caused by such early laws 
as the Test and Corporation Acts and by the requirement of 
oaths that had religious significance. This problem was 
largely an Irish one. Though Irish Catholics could vote, 
conditions forced them to choose Protestant representatives 
to parliament. English dissenters were allowed to hold office 
in violation of law ; but the offense demanded forgiveness in 
the form of an annual indemity act. 1 

2. The Landlord Evil. Most of the land had come into the 
possession of landlords to whom the tenants paid stipulated rent. 
In Ireland this created much trouble : the landlord Absentee 

as a rule did not live on his estates, but managed landlor ds. 
them through agents ; and these were not always forgetful of 
their own advantage. In England the situation was more tol- 
erable, for there-absentee landlords were fewer and the English 
farmers had certain rights that the Irish tenants did not have. 

3. Factory Conditions. The new system of industry led to 

a multitude of evils. The workday was long, often fifteen 

hours, with the shortest possible intermission for Hours of 

meals; wages were low; conditions of employment laboi. 

were unsanitary. Women were hired to work long hours at 

difficult tasks. Children, usually orphans and 

. . , ' . ./. .... Child labor, 

other inmates 01 supposedly charitable institutions, 

worked from five or six in the morning till seven and sometimes 

1 Review, sec. 415. 



538 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS 

nine at night in the textile mills. The evil was a crying one, 
but twenty years passed before any serious attempt was made 
to remedy factory conditions by legislation. This problem was 
chiefly confined to England. 

4. The Parliamentary Situation. So long as Parliament 
was controlled by the lords and men of wealth, there was small 
The " unre- no P e f° r improvement ; and the reformers soon 
formed came to realize this fact. The lords to a large 

parliament." extent controlled both houses of parliament. They 
composed the membership of the upper house and were often able 
to dictate the election of members to the house of commons. 
As landlords they were influential with their tenants, who some- 
times had the right to vote ; but more effective was their control 
of "rotten boroughs" and "pocket boroughs." 

A rotten borough was one that had practically ceased to exist, 
though the old site, even if entirely uninhabited, had a right to 
" Rotten be represented by two members in parliament as of 

boroughs." \^ Rich lords or wealthy business men were often 
eager to buy such deserted plots in order to secure a seat in 
parliament for themselves or their relatives. Most famous of 
all the rotten boroughs was Old Sarum, the site of which was 
owned by the Pitt family. There was not a single building in 
the borough; and the five voters, who elected the representatives 
to parliament, had to hold their elections in a tent. 

A pocket borough was an unimportant town that had in some 
way come into the control of a neighboring magnate whose 
" Pocket nominees the voters would be sure to elect. Many 

boroughs." f these had at one time been important boroughs; 
but they had declined in size and prosperity, and the inhabitants 
had found it profitable to let others exercise their parliamentary 
rights. Some of them, however, had been deliberately created 
as pocket boroughs. Queen Elizabeth was particularly free 
about creating such boroughs. In Cornwall, where the influ- 
ence of the crown was great, she found a number of unimpor- 
tant villages to which she gave the privilege of representation 
in parliament. A certain district in Cornwall, which now sends 



THE AGITATION FOR REFORM 



539 



a single member to the house of commons, elected eighteen 
members before the reform of 1832. 

The matter of the franchise was also in great need of read- 
justment. There was no common rule governing the right to 
vote for borough members. In some boroughs they were chosen 
by a small group of men called the borough cor- The need f 
poration ; this was a continuous body, as it franchise 
filled its own vacancies. In other places the right re orm ' 
to vote was associated with the possession of certain parcels of 
land. In one borough the voter had to prove his right to "a 
small quantity of salt water arising out of a pit." In 1832 this 
pit had long been dry, but the ancient right remained. 

493. The Agitation for Reform. Even before 181 5 reforms 
in all these directions had been urged, though without success. 
From the Tories, who had long been in control of the, govern- 
ment, little could be expected. The Whigs were somewhat 
more responsive to popular demands ; but their The Whig 
party was weak and divided. Some of the Whig reformers- 
chiefs had looked with favor on the French Revolution and had 
consequently lost their influence among the ruling classes. 
After the restoration of peace, the demand for changes grew 
more insistent. Earl Grey and Lord John Russell, two aristo- 
cratic Whig leaders, had long urged parliamentary reform. 
George Canning agitated for Catholic emancipation. Soon the 

ranks of the reformers were recruited from a rising " „ ,. , 

. The Radicals, 

generation of radicals of a more aggressive type. 

William Cobbett, an able though somewhat erratic journalist, 

stood for reforms of every sort, though he realized fully that all 

efforts were useless so long as parliament remained unreformed. 

Henry Brougham, who was probably the leading democrat of 

his day, urged reforms in education. James Mackintosh, a 

Scotch philosopher, who had once written a strong reply to 

Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution, argued for changes 

in the frightful criminal code, which decreed the death penalty 

for more than two hundred offenses, including such petty crimes 

as stealing a loaf of bread or shooting a hare in a private hunt- 



54Q 



SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS 






ing park. 1 The poet Shelley stated the 
radicals in a sonnet, England in iSiq: 



views 



of the extreme 



An old, mad, blind, despised and dying king, — 
Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow 

Through public scorn, mud from a muddy spring, — 
Rulers who neither see nor feel nor know, 

But leechlike to their fainting country cling, 

Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow, — 

A people starved and stabbed in the untilled field, — 

A Senate, — Time's worst statute unrepealed, 
Are graves from which a glorious phantom may 
Burst to illumine our tempestuous day." 



George IV. 



494. Divisions in the Tory Party 

died and was succeeded by 
his unworthy son George 

IV. But as 

the new king 
had already governed the 
country for nine years as 
regent for his insane 
father, and as he retained 
the earlier ministers, no 
change of policy could be 
looked for. The leading 
spirit in the government 
was neither the king nor 
the prime minister, but 

Lord Castle- 

reagh, who 
was secretary for foreign 
affairs. 3 It was Castle- 
reagh who had planned the 
military operation during 
the later years of the Napoleonic War. 

i Cheyney, No. 411; Gardiner, 885. 
2 Gardiner, 882-884. 



In 1820 George III 



Castlereagh. 




Robert Stewart, Lord Castlereagh 
He had been an im- 

3 Review sec. 484. 



CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION 



54i 



portant figure in the Congress of Vienna and felt bound to 
support its principles of settlement. As the purpose of this 
Congress was to restore as far as possible the conditions that 
existed before the French Revolution, Castlereagh fell under a 

strong suspicion of being a 
reactionary. From a cabi- 
net dominated by a man 
of this type, the reformers 
could expect no progressive 
measures. 

Castlereagh's rival was 
George Canning, who 
headed the moderate wing 
of the Tory party. After 
Castlereagh's death in 1822, 

Canning sue- _ 

° . Canning, 
ceeded him in 

the foreign office. From 
that moment the period of 
reform may be said to date; 
for Canning was pledged to 
at least one reform, the 
removal of Catholic disa- 
bilities. He accomplished 
nothing, however, except to 
keep the agitation alive. 
495. Catholic Emancipation. 1 Matters came to a climax in 
1828, when the Duke of Wellington was prime minister. Early 
in that year the Test and Corporation Acts 2 were Repea i f t h e 
finally repealed and all citizens were made eligible Test and Cor- 
to office. But the declaration against transub- por 
stantiation was still in the oath administered to members of 
parliament, so that no Catholic could take a seat in Daniel 
that body. Daniel O'Connell, an Irish orator of O'Connell. 
great fame and power, decided in spite of this fact to become a 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 413-414; Gardiner, 895-898. 2 Review sees. 352, 359. 




George Canning 
From an engraving, published 1816. 



542 



SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS 



candidate for a seat in the house of commons. At a special 

election in southwestern Ireland he defeated one of the chiefs 

of the Tory party. 1 That a legally elected and fully qualified 

citizen should be denied his seat because he refused to violate 

his conscience by taking 

the prescribed oath, created 

much stir in the land. So 

determined were the Irish 

Catholics, that 
Wellington ' 

yieidson Wellington 

the Catholic feared that 

question. . 

civil war would 

be the outcome. The gov- 
ernment agreed that the bar 
should be removed. A re- 
lief bill introduced by Rob- 
ert Peel became a law in 
1829. O'Connell sought a 
second election and was al- 
lowed to take his seat. 

496. Parliamentary Re- 
form. 1832. 2 The reform- 
ers next centered their 

attention upon parliamentary reform. A violent agitation 
arose which was doubtless given strength and momentum by 
The July movements on the Continent. In 1830 the "July 

Revolution in Revolution" broke out in Paris and spread to the 
neighboring lands. The purpose of the revolution- 
ists was to overthrow the absolutism that had been reestab- 
lished by the Congress of Vienna, and in places they were 
successful. In England the movement took the form of an 
insistent demand for reform of the house of commons. 3 To- 
ward the close of the year, Earl Grey, who had urged parlia- 




Daniel O'Connell 
From a painting by T. Carrick. 



1 Kendall, No. 128. 3 Gardiner, 

2 Masterman, 196-200; Tuell and Hatch, No. 67. 



PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. 1832 



543 



mentary reform for a quarter of a century, suggested that such 
a measure be passed. But Wellington refused Agitation for 
to tamper with the historic constitution and was parliamentary 
forced to resign. 1 William IV, who had succeeded 
his brother a few months before, called on Earl Grey to head 
a new ministry. 2 There were still four leading groups in the 
politics of Britain: extreme Tories, "Canningite" Tories, 

Whigs, and Radicals. Earl 
Grey selected The Grey 
his cabinet minis * r y- 
from among the Whigs and 
the Canningites ; he also 
had the support of the 
Radicals. Out of this alli- 
ance grew the Liberal party 
which has controlled the 
nation and the empire 
most of the time since 1830. 
A few months later the 
government had a bill ready 
for the reconstruction of 
parliament. It was intro- 
duced into the house of 
commons by The First 
Lord John Rus- Reform Bill, 
sell who had 
also been a persistent advo- 
cate of parliamentary re- 
form. 3 But the first test vote showed that the house was 
almost evenly divided on the subject, and the bill was dropped. 4 
In the hope of securing a favorable house, the Grey ministry 
dissolved parliament and ordered new elections. 5 After an 
exciting campaign, in which the reform bill was the sole issue, 




Lord John Russell 
From a photograph by May all 



1 Cheyney, No. 416; Kendall, No. 129. 

2 Gardiner, 900-901. 

3 Cheyney, No. 417. 



4 Cheyney, Nos. 41 

5 Kendall, No. 130. 



421. 



544 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS 

the Whigs and their allies came back to Westminster in a strong 
The Second majority. Another bill was prepared and passed 
Reform Bill. through the house of commons but it was rejected 
by the lords. 1 

The excitement in the country was intense and for some 
weeks riot and destruction of property prevailed. A third bill 
was rushed through the house, but once more the peers threat- 
ened to throw it out or to change it so as to make it harmless 
The Third as a reform measure. When the attitude of the 
Reform Bill, peers became evident, Grey and his colleagues re- 
signed. The king asked Wellington to form another cabinet, 
but as he now proposed to grant a measure of reform, the Tory 
chiefs refused to serve under him. The king then recalled Earl 
Grey and promised to create a sufficient number of Whig lords 
to overcome the hostile majority. On learning this the upper 
house yielded, and the third bill became a law. 2 

By the provisions of the act fifty-six English boroughs lost 
all their representation in parliament ; thirty lost one member 
Provisions of each ; one lost two out of four members. The seats 
the act. ^at th e boroughs lost were distributed among the 

larger counties and the more important towns. 3 In the boroughs 
every man who occupied a house for which he paid £10 in yearly 
rent, or whose own house would rent for that sum, was allowed 
to vote. In the country the forty-shilling freeholders remained 
voters as before ; 4 but the franchise was also given to certain 
classes of tenant farmers who paid rent of from £10 to £50. 
Those who rented for a short time were included in the £50 
class. In general the right to vote was given to the business men 
of the cities and to the more important farmers. The working- 
men were not given the ballot : very few of them paid as much 
as £10 in house rent. The measure was a moderate one and 
was soon found inadequate. Two later reforms have given the 
United Kingdom substantially equal electoral districts and 
what comes very near being universal male suffrage. 

1 Gardiner, 902-903. 3 Cheyney, No. 420. 

2 Ibid., 903-905. 4 Review sec. 178. 



BOROUGH GOVERNMENT AND POSTAL REFORM 545 

497. The Reformed Parliament. In the election that fol- 
lowed the passage of the reform bill, the Liberal groups won an 
overwhelming victory, and the great majority of the new mem- 
bers were eager for social reforms. For some years Abolition of 
the work went on. One of the first measures to slaver y- 
pass was an act abolishing slavery in all the British domin- 
ions. 1 A large sum of money was set aside to compensate the 
owners for the loss of their property, and the freedmen were to 
continue working for their masters as apprentices for twelve 
years longer. An appropriation was made to promote educa- 
tion, the first grant of the kind in the history of parliament. 
Quakers were admitted to parliament on affirmation instead of 
oath. Of more immediate importance was a factory act, 2 
which regulated the number of hours that children Factory acts, 
might labor in the mills : children under thirteen 1833 - 
years were limited to nine hours ; older children were allowed 
to work twelve hours. No child under the age of nine was to 
be employed in a factory. The poor law was changed in such 
a way as to encourage the paupers to work : relief was not 
wholly abolished, but workhouses were built, The new 
and assistance was to be given only to inmates of poor law - 
these establishments. 3 In many cases the new law worked 
much hardship, but it was probably an improvement on the 
older methods of dealing with poverty. 4 

498. Borough Government and Postal Reform. After 
two years of strenuous reforming the nation seemed to tire of 
the changes, and an effort was made to place the Conservatives 
in power under the leadership of the moderate and practical 
statesman, Robert Peel. The movement failed, however; the 
Liberals formed an alliance with O'Connell and his Irish follow- 
ing, and Peel was forced to resign. The reformers Municipal 
returned to their work and began by providing a government, 
more rational form of government for the boroughs. The old 

1 Gardiner, 910-91 i. 4 Review sec. 469. 

2 Cheyney, Nos. 422-424; Innes, Industrial Development, 296-307. 

3 Gardiner, 911; Innes, Industrial Development, 262-264. 



546 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS 

self-perpetuating corporations were abolished and a governing 
council was created which was to be chosen by the taxpayers. 
The same decade saw an important reform in the postal serv- 
ice. 1 The charge for carrying letters was high and varied 
with the distance. This proved a great hardship for the poor. 
The charge was paid by the one who received the letter : this 
Rowland Hill ^ to constant efforts to evade the law by smug- 
and the gling, placing private marks on the envelope, and 

postal reform. the Uke Row i and H ill, an officer in the postal 

service, showed that the rates were far above the cost of carrying 
the letters, and that the distance had little to do with the cost. 
He therefore urged the government to adopt a low rate and 
have the cost paid by the sender, which could be done by af- 
fixing a government stamp. After a few years of 
agitation the reform was carried through, and the 
United Kingdom had a uniform penny postage (1839). Since 
that time Rowland Hill's ideas have been accepted throughout 
the world. 2 

499. The Progress of the Industrial Revolution. During 
all these years the changes that are associated with the indus- 
trial revolution were going forward at a steadily increasing rate. 
It is estimated that there were about 3000 power looms in 
Growth of operation in Great Britain in 181 5; twenty years 
manufacturing. i a ter, during the decade of the factory acts and the 
new poor law, the number had risen to 100,000. A large number 
of these were used in the manufacture of cotton ; during this 
same period the importation of cotton increased four fold. 
A number of new inventions were also put to use, but these 
were chiefly in the form of improvements on the great spinning 
and weaving machines of the eighteenth century. 3 Among 
the more important was an improvement on the power loom 
which made it possible to weave cloth of varied, and often 
intricate designs. 

The agitation for laws to regulate factory labor and to im- 
prove the living conditions in the factory districts did not 

1 Cheyney, No. 425. 2 Gardiner, 918-920. 3 Review sec. 463. 



THE PROGRESS OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 547 

cease with the passing of the factory act of 1833. It was urged 
by the reformers that the employment of children industrial 
should be forbidden ; that the hours for men and reforms - 
women should be made shorter ; and that something should be 
done to provide the workingmen's families with better homes. 1 




Houses of Parliament, London 

The building was begun in 1840 and completed in 1852. It covers eight acres and 
contains 1100 rooms. 



In 1842, when Robert Peel was prime minister, a commission 
was appointed to investigate labor conditions in the coal mines. 
The investigation revealed a state of affairs that was but little 
better than slavery : it was found that women and children bore 
heavy burdens deep under ground for twelve hours a day. 2 
At the same time the attention of the public was once more 
directed to the question of child labor in the fac- Mrs Brown- 
tories : in 1844 Mrs. Browning gave voice to the ing and Lord 
public feeling on this matter in her poem The a es ury ' 
Cry of the Children. The leader of the forces that fought for 
reforms along these lines was Lord Ashley, earl of Shaftesbury : 

1 Innes, Industrial Development, 307-311. 2 Kendall, No. 134. 



548 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS 

his efforts were chiefly directed toward securing a ten-hour day 
in industry. The agitation bore fruit : during the forties a 
The ten-hour series of acts were passed which materially reduced 
da y- the evils of labor in mines and factories. The 

employment of children was still more narrowly limited, and in 
1847 the bill for a ten-hour day was passed. 

500. The Movement for Public Health. 1 One of the prob- 
lems of the factory towns in northern England was how to 
provide homes for the rapidly growing laboring population. 

Many houses were built in these towns, but they 
Sanitation. , ., . 1 . 1 • 1 1 

were built with a view to secure a high rent at the 

lowest cost to the owner. They were often located in districts 
where there were no water-works, no sewers or drains, and no 
provision for the disposal of garbage. It was not long before 
the factory towns were reeking with filth. The effects of this 
condition appeared in an abnormally high death rate : in Glas- 
gow forty out of every thousand died in 1843 ; at present the 
death rate in England is less than fifteen per thousand. In the 
older towns like London, the situation was better, but there 
was much room for improvement. 

In the campaign for public health the name of Edwin Chad- 
wick is the most prominent. His service consisted in getting 
Edwin the facts of the situation in the cities before the 

Chadwkk. English people. To lower the death rate he urged 
improved water-works and better drains. In his efforts to 
secure these improvements he was ably supported by Lord 
Shaftesbury. In 1844 a commission was appointed by parlia- 
ment to study the question of the " health of towns." The 
report of this body confirmed the statements of Chadwick and 
Shaftesbury. The outcome was a measure providing a general 
board of health with powers to organize local boards of health. 
Boards of Later the cities took up the question and many Eng- 

heaith. lish municipalities have undertaken to provide not 

only pure water and proper drainage, but also houses built with 
a view to preserve and promote health and rented to the poor at 

1 Gardiner, 922-923. 



THE STEAMSHIP AND THE RAILWAY 



549 




-ji^M^m^^ 



"Puffing Billy" 
Stephenson's first locomotive. 



the lowest possible rate. The " housing question " still remains, 
however, one of the more important in British municipal life. 

501. The Steamship and 
the Railway. 1 The greatest 
achievements of the indus- 
trial revolution during the 
first half of the nineteenth 
century lay in the fields of 
transit and transportation. 
In 1812 the first English 
steamship was The 
launched on the steamship. 
Clyde River ; two years later 
George Stephenson built the 
first railway locomotive. Ocean traffic by steam dates from 
18 19, when an American steamship, the Savannah, came across 

the Atlantic to Liverpool. 
The Savannah, however, did 
not depend wholly on 
steam; not till 1838 did 
ocean travel by steam 
alone become a real fact : 
in that year the Sirius and 
the Great Western crossed 
the Atlantic in eighteen and 
fifteen days respectively. 

George Stephenson's first 
locomotive, George 
" Puffing Bil- Stephenson. 
ly," as the noisy machine 
was called, did not prove a 
success; but in 1816 he 
succeeded in building an engine that was able to haul cars of 
coal. In 1825 the locomotive was first used in passenger traffic; 
but the speed attained, eight miles per hour, did not promise 

1 Innes, Industrial Development, 239-243. 




The Rocket : 



55© SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS 

much for the future of the steam railway. Soon after this a 
The railway was built between Manchester and Liver- 

locomotive, p^^ anc [ Stephenson succeeded in inducing the 
promotors to arrange for a locomotive contest before finally de- 
termining what power should be used on the new road. He won 
the contest with the " Rocket," a locomotive that reached a 
speed of thirty-five miles in an hour (1829). The railway was 
opened the next year and many other important lines were 
built during the following decade. 

502. Queen Victoria. 1 In 1837 William IV died and the 
crown passed to his niece, the Princess Victoria, a young girl 
Victoria. of ei g nteen years. 2 Queen Victoria took her do- 

mestic and social duties very seriously; she had, 
therefore, not always the necessary time for governmental 
affairs, and as a result the office of the prime minister grew to 
great importance. Victoria's long reign of more than sixty- 

1 Cheyney, No. 426. 

2 The genealogy of the Hanoverian dynasty. 

James I, 
1603-1625 

Elizabeth 

Sophia = Ernest Augustus, 

I elector ol Hanover 
George I, 
1714-1727 

George II, 
1727-1760 

I 
Frederick, 
prince of Wales 

George III 
1 760-1820 



George IV, Frederick William IV, Edward, Ernest. Two other 

1820-1830 duke of York, 1830-1837 duke of Kent, duke of Cumberland, sons and four 
died l82 7 died 1820 later king of Han- daughters 

I over, died 1851 

Albert of = Victoria 
Saxe-Coburg | 1837-1901 

Edward VII Eight other 

1901-1910 children 



Albert, George V, Three other 

died 1892 1910- • children 



QUEEN VICTORIA 



551 




552 



SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS 



Victorian 

prime 

ministers. 



three years, the longest in English history, saw a series of re- 
markable men in charge of the queen's government. Four 

of these 

played 

large and 
brilliant parts : Robert 
Peel, Lord Palmerston, 
Benjamin Disraeli, and 
William Ewart Glad- 
stone. The queen did 
not allow the cabinet to 
control the government 
absolutely : she tried to 
keep informed at all 
times and claimed a 
right to share in the 
adoption of govern- 
mental policies ; how- 
ever, in such matters 
she usually found it 
necessary to defer to 
the opinions of the min- 
isters in charge. 1 

Queen Victoria mar- 
ried Albert, a prince 
from one of the lesser German states. 2 Prince Albert was never 
Prince popular with the English people : he was some- 

Albert, what stiff and reserved and had none of those 

genial graces that Englishmen love to see in royalty. No place 
was made for him in the government, and for a long time he 
had no legal title; but the queen was finally able to persuade 
parliament to give him the title of Prince Consort. Though he 
was the queen's husband, the ruling powers in England did not 
intend that he should be anything more than mere consort. 
This, however, did not prevent him from becoming a real force 

1 Masterman, 190-195. 2 Bates and Coman, 388-392; Cheyney, No. 427. 




Oueen Victoria 



THE VICTORIAN AGE IN LITERATURE 553 

in the government of the kingdom. He was naturally the 
queen's confidential adviser, and his counsel car- Prince Albert's 
ried great weight with the cabinet as well as with place in the 
the queen. After twenty years of married life the government, 
prince died, 1 and for forty years longer Queen Victoria strug- 
gled single-handed with parties and ministers. 

It was the peculiar duty and privilege of Albert and Victoria 
to reestablish monarchy in the affections of the English people. 
The Hanoverian line of kings had not been famous The 
either for intelligence or for virtue. The queen's Hanoverians, 
grandfather, George III, had, indeed, lived a most proper private 
life ; but his narrowness and stubbornness combined with a 
feeble intellect made him anything but an ideal ruler. Her 
uncle, George IV, had disgusted the nation; and her other 
uncle, William IV, while in many ways an improvement on his 
impossible brother, was erratic and was believed by many to 
be slightly unbalanced. But Queen Victoria, as wife and 
mother and mistress of a home, illustrated what Private life 
was noblest and best in the English character. 2 of Victoria - 
Early in the queen's reign it was" freely predicted that the British 
Isles would before long become a republic. To-day monarchy 
is firmly intrenched in the English political system. Even 
radicals admit the value of a dynasty in a nation like England 
and in a government like that of the United Kingdom. Albert 
and Victoria redeemed monarchy. 

503. The Victorian Age in Literature. The same genera- 
tion that gave England her queen also produced a series of 
great literary artists and thinkers, whose writings have made the 
Victorian age a notable period in the literary history of the world. 

The decade from 1800 to 1810, the year of Victoria's 

i-i -i it 1 i-i r * ,r i ™ Literature. 

birth, is honored by the birth of Alfred lennyson, 

Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Charles 

Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, John Ruskin, and 

George Eliot. None of these writers w r as more than ten years 

older than the queen herself ; George Eliot was a few months 

1 Bates and Coman, 392-394 (Tennyson). 2 Ibid., 395-396 (Tennyson). 



554 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS 

younger. In other lines, too, this wonderful decade was pro- 
ductive of genius, for it counts the scientist Charles Darwin and 
the statesman William Ewart Gladstone. John Stuart Mill, 
the economist, and Thomas Carlyle, though a few years older, 
also belong to this group. 

These men and women achieved greatness in their own 
various lines ; but they also have their places in the social and 
Literature and political movements of the age. Most of them 
the movement received their earlier impressions during the period 
of reform agitation that preceded "the parliamentary 
reform act of 1832. In. the subsequent struggle for social 
reconstruction, especially when the enthusiasm for reform rose 
once more during the forties, these men and women through 
their writings and otherwise proved a tremendous force in the 
shaping of public opinion. It cannot be estimated how much 
strength the democratic movement gained from Thackeray's 
powerful satires, the Book of Snobs, for instance. Mention has 
already been made of Mrs. Browning's Cry of the Children, 
which to this day has remained an effective argument for a 
certain type of industrial legislation. In the same way the 
demand for aid and justice to the poor found a literary voice 
in Charles Dickens, whose novels ring with protest against the 
many abuses in the social life of the time. 1 He exposed the 
miseries of the newly established workhouses and the degrading 
influence of the prison for debt ; he attacked the antiquated 
system of education and the slow and stupid methods of the 
courts ; he brought to light the dreadful poverty of the London 
slums. In most of the other writers of the age the same spirit 
is present, though the purpose is not so evident in their works. 

To the earlier generation of nineteenth century writers, 
whose work was done chiefly before 1832, the reform movement 
Writers of owes very little, though an exception may be made 
the age of of Thomas Hood, whose Song of the Shirt doubtless 
was effective in creating sympathy for the women 
in the sweat shops. Scott died in 1832 ; Byron and Shelley 

1 Oliver Twist, Little Dorrill, Nicholas Nicklcby, Bleak House, and other novels. 



SUMMARY 



555 



had preceded him nearly ten years earlier ; Southey and Words- 
worth survived Scott, but their important work was done before 
1832. At some period in life nearly all these men had been 
sympathetic toward revolution. But they were not reformers ; 
their writings did not deal with the problems of their own time. 
Shelley may be regarded as an exception, but his work had 
little influence. Moreover, the reaction drove several of them 
into the conservative camp : Scott, Southey, and Wordsworth 
died as confirmed Tories of the older type. 

504. Summary. The "forty years of peace" that followed 
the treaties drawn up at Vienna in 181 5 may be grouped into 
three periods. (1) The first dozen years (1815- Twelve years 
1827) were a period of much discontent, great com- of a g itati <> n - 
mercial and industrial development, and almost continuous 
agitation for domestic reforms. During these years the Tories 
were in power and were led successively by Castlereagh, Can- 
ning, and Wellington. In parliament the opposition to the 
Tories looked to Earl Grey, Lord John Russell, and Henry 
Brougham for leadership ; while outside parliament the multi- 
tude listened chiefly to William Cobbett, who preached reform 
in his Weekly Political Register. (2) This period was followed 
by a decade of reform legislation : political rights a decade of 
were restored to the Catholics and the Protestant reforms - 
dissenters ; parliament was reformed ; factory laws were 
enacted ; a new poor law was placed on the statute books ; 
the boroughs were reorganized ; slavery was abolished in the 
colonies ; and other far-reaching changes were given legal sanc- 
tion. This decade also saw the first practical steam railway 
and the first successful attempts to cross the ocean in ships that 
were propelled by steam power only. In politics the period 
saw the beginnings of the Liberal party which was The Liberal 
being formed out of three separate political groups : P art y- 
the Whigs, the Radicals, and the Canningite Tories. (3) After 
1838 the fervor of the reformers cooled somewhat.. Many 
important laws affecting English social life were, indeed, 
enacted : something was done to improve the conditions in 



556 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS 

mines and factories, to shorten the hours of labor, and to pro- 
Changing mote the public health ; but, on the whole, the 
interests. statesmen who controlled the government during 
the earlier decades of Queen Victoria's reign were not intensely 
concerned with domestic problems. 

REFERENCES 

The first years of peace: distress and discontent. — Cross, History 
of England, 867-871; Innes, History of England, 778-780; Jenks, Parlia- 
mentary England, 324-342; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 913-919. 

O'CONNELL AND CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. — CroSS, 879-882; Jenks, 343- 

354; Johnston and Spencer, Ireland's Story, c. xxvii; Lawless, Ireland, c. lv; 
Morris, Wellington, 333-340; Ransome, 930-934. 

The unreformed parliament. — Beard, Introduction to the English His- 
torians, 538-548 (Walpole); Cross, 909-914. 

The parliamentary reform of 1832. — Beard, 549-565 (Walpole); Innes, 
790-794; Jenks, 356-378; Morris, 342-351; Ransome, 939-944. 

Progress of the industrial revolution. — Edwards, Story of Wales, c. 
xxvi; Gardiner, Student's History of England, 905-909; Innes, 801-808. 

Intellectual movements. — Cross, 895-901; Gardiner, 887-890, 940-943; 
Innes, 808-812. 

Reform legislation. — Innes, 815-819; Ransome, 944-948. 

Reform of the borough government. — Masterman, History of the 
British Constitution, c. xxvi. 

Queen Victoria and " the constitution alizing of the monarchy." — 
Masterman, c. xviii. 



CHAPTER XXVI 
PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE. 1837-1867 

505. Problems of the Early Victorian Period. The 

first thirty years of Queen Victoria's reign were occupied chiefly 
with problems that concerned the United Kingdom in the larger 
sense, the British Empire, and the position of England among 
the nations of the world. After a few years of legislation for 
social betterment a reaction set in and the enthusiasm for 
reform yielded to a deepening interest in affairs abroad. The 
earlier decades of the Victorian era witnessed a series of vast 
movements in Europe and in the world at large : the revolu- 
tionary risings of 1848 ; the Crimean War; the Sepoy rebellion 
against the East India Company ; the unification of Italy ; 
the civil war in the United States ; and the pre- world 
liminary conflicts that led to the formation of the P roblems - 
German Empire. In some of these movements England played 
a large and leading part ; in every case she was an interested 
and attentive observer. 

506. Four Victorian Statesmen. Of the English states- 
men of the period four were preeminent: Peel, Derby, Russell, 
and Palmerston. The first two represented the Tory tradition 
with the difference that Derby, who had come over Derby, Peel, 
from the Whigs, was developing toward Conserv- and Russe11 - 
atism, while Peel, who had sprung from the middle class and was 
essentially a man of affairs, had no fear of changes that seemed 
to promote social justice, and was gradually advancing toward 
Liberalism. Russell, while a man of moderate abilities, had an 
excellent record and was one of the more important chiefs of 
the Whig element in the newly formed Liberal party. 

The chief pilot of the period, however, was Lord Palmerston. 

557 



558 



PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE 



Palmerston was an Irish peer, though of English blood : he 
Lord found a seat in the house of commons at an early 

Palmerston. a g e anc j remained in that body almost continuously 
for nearly sixty years. For the larger part of this period he 

also had a seat in the cabi- 
net and was twice prime 
minister. He was originally 
a Tory of the Canningite 
faction ; but during the agi- 
tation for parliamentary re- 
form he deserted the Tory 
party and became identified 
with the Whigs. Palmer- 
ston's interest lay in foreign 
affairs, and in the conduct 
of the foreign office he 
showed such an aggressive 
and domineering spirit that 
the peace of Europe was 
often despaired of. His 
ideas of foreign policy were 
often totally different from 
those of the queen ; but this 
did not disturb Palmerston : 
he went ahead with his plans and notified the sovereign after 
Palmerston he had taken action. A minister who employed 
and the queen. suc j 1 high-handed methods and showed so little re- 
spect for the crowned heads of Europe could not fail to be a sore 
trial to the queen. But the interests of England were carefully 
watched when Palmerston was in the foreign office, and his 
methods and policy had the approval of the great majority of 
Englishmen. 

507. The Dominion of Canada. 1 During this period 
England entered into new relations with Canada. The two 
chief regions of this colony, Upper and Lower Canada, had 

1 Gardiner, 915-916; Innes, Industrial Development, 210-21 1; Masterman, 237-241. 




Henry John Temple, Viscount 
Palmerston 
From an engraving, after the original from 
life by C. Silvy. 



THE DOMINION OF CANADA 



559 



long shown signs of unrest. The older colony, Lower Canada 
(Quebec), was French : the upper colony (Ontario) Canadian 
was English. Each viewed the other with distrust : dlffi cuities. 
both were dissatisfied with their own situation. The trouble 




Parliament Buildings, Ottawa 

finally came to the point of rebellion, and the government 
felt that the Canadian demands could no longer be ignored. 
Lord Melbourne, who had succeeded Earl Grey as prime min- 
ister in 1834, sent Lord Durham to Canada with Lord Durham 
large powers to rectify the situation. The commis- in Canada - 
sioner was a man of exceptional abilities, though in his methods 
he was inclined to be arbitrary. Lord Durham was soon re- 
called, but his ideas as to Canadian affairs prevailed : the two 
Canadas were given a joint legislature with extensive control 
over the affairs of the colony. But the differences in race, 
religion, and language continued to make trouble, and the plan 



560 PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE 

was not successful. In 1867 a new form of government was 
devised : the two maritime provinces of New Brunswick and 
Nova Scotia were joined to the colonies of Ontario and Quebec 
in a federation which was called the Dominion of Canada. 1 

The Canadian system of government is a combination of 
English and American elements. The federal idea is American ; 
The Canadian but the executive with its cabinet or privy council 
federation. responsible to the Dominion parliament is planned 
on English lines. In the distribution of powers between the 
provinces and the Dominion an important innovation was 
introduced : the powers granted to the provinces are enumerated 
and defined; all remaining powers belong to the Dominion 
government. The nominal executive is the English sovereign 
represented at Ottawa by a governor-general ; but the actual 
ruler of the Dominion is the prime minister of Canada. The 
governor-general appoints the prime minister, but he is always 
careful to select the leader of the political party that is strongest 
in the Canadian house of commons. 

508. Australia. 2 While Canada was being transformed into 
a self-governing dominion, an important group of colonies was 
developing on the edge of the Southern Ocean. The history of 
the Australian settlements begins with a penal colony at Botany 
Bay in 1788. 3 Other colonies of the same type were founded 
New South later. For several decades the settlement of New 
Wales. South Wales struggled along without making much 

progress. Very few emigrants came to settle on the island and 
the only colonists of a desirable sort were soldiers whose term 
of service had expired. But in the thirties a new type of settlers 
began to arrive, and colonies multiplied. Self-government of 
the usual British colonial type began to be extended to the 
Australian settlements in 1842. The development of this vast 
Other Austra- island is closely associated with the reign of Queen 
lian colonies. Victoria, as the names of the two colonies Victoria 
and Queensland sufficiently testify. 

1 See also sec. 551. 3 Review sec. 470. 

2 Innes, Industrial Development, 211-212. 



THE AGITATION FOR FREE TRADE 561 

The principal industry of the Australian colonies in their 
earlier day was agriculture; but it was soon discovered that 
live stock and especially sheep could be raised to wool and 
good advantage. Australia is still one of the great gold - 
wool-producing regions of the world. But in 1849 the dis- 
covery of immense gold fields in the southeastern part of the 
island drew the attention of the entire world to this continent, 
and an era of rapid growth set in. 




A Wool Train in Australia 

509. The Agitation for Free Trade. 1 About the middle 
of the nineteenth century certain very important changes came 
into the agriculture, industry, and public finance of the kingdom 
by the adoption of "free trade." Since the early days of English 
commerce it had been the policy of the government to prevent 
foreign merchants from competing successfully with English 
merchants in the English markets by placing a tax on imported 
products. For some time, however, it had been The free trade 
held by many students of economic problems that movement- 
such "protective" taxes were of little advantage to English 
commerce and that they probably were a hindrance. The 
movement for free trade dates from the last quarter of the 
eighteenth century. Adam Smith held that free trade was 
desirable, though perhaps not practical as conditions were in 

1 Innes, Industrial Development, 274-293. 



562 



PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE 



his day. William Pitt took a step in the direction of free trade 
when he made his commercial treaty with France and agreed 
to lower the tariff on French products. 1 Another step was taken 
about forty years later when William Huskisson was president 
of the board of trade (1822-1827) : Huskisson secured a lower 




Thackeray's Free-Trade Cartoon 

Drawn for "The Anti-Corn Law Circular" of July 23, 1839. The cartoon 
shows a soldier, a policeman, and a beadle repelling two foreigners who are 
bringing wheat to feed the starving families of the English workingmen. 

tariff on a number of imported articles. There was, however, 
The Anti-Corn- no organized movement against protective tariffs 
Law League, before 1S38, when certain manufacturers in Lan- 
cashire organized the Anti-Corn-Law League to 
secure the removal of the tax on imported wheat. 

510. The Corn Laws. 2 To protect the interests of the 
English farmer parliament had at various times passed laws 
The English forbidding the importation of foreign wheat until 
com laws. English wheat should reach a certain price. In 
181 5 the price limit was fixed at ten shillings (nearly $2.50) 

1 Review sec. 466. 

2 Bates and Coman, 407-408; Cheyney, No. 430; Gardiner, 924, 930-931; Kendall, 
Nos. 135-136. 



THE AGITATION FOR FREE TRADE 



563 



per bushel. Later the law was modified in the hope of keeping 
the price at about $1.80 per bushel. When crops were good 
these laws made little difference, as the large supply would 
force prices down ; but when the harvest was light they worked 
hardship among the poor. As it would sometimes take from 
five to ten days' wages of a common laborer to pay for a bushel 
of wheat, the price of bread was relatively high. 

The iniquity of this had long been seen. The leading spirits 
in the Anti-Corn-Law League were two prominent manufac- 
turers in Lancashire, the economist Richard Cobden 1 Cobden and 
and the noted orator John Bright. These men Bri s ht - 
argued that without sufficient food the laborer could not be 
an efficient workman ; and 
with prices as they were he 
could not afford to buy what 
he and his family really 
needed in the form of nour- 
ishment. They also argued 
that the corn laws interfered 
with the growth of com- 
merce, as they prevented 
the foreign customers of 
England from exchanging 
their wheat for British 
goods. 

In 1 84 1 the Tories de- 
feated the Liberals in a gen- 
eral election and Robert Peel 
became prime minister. 
Robert Peel was born in 
Lancashire and was the son 
of a wealthy cotton spinner ; it was therefore natural that the 
arguments of Cobden and his associates should ap- Peel becomes 
peal strongly to him. He became convinced that a free trader - 
there ought to be freedom of trade in raw materials and manu- 

1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 70. 




Sir Robert Peel 
After a portrait by John Linnel. 



564 PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE 

factured articles as well as in wheat. Peel carried his first re- 
ductions of the tariff in 1842, when he succeeded in lowering 
the rates on a large number of articles. Further changes in the 
•same direction were made three years later. Peel was also con- 
vinced that the corn laws ought to be repealed ; but his party 
was dominated by the English landowners ; and in his first at- 
tempt to remove the duty from wheat he failed, because neither 
his cabinet nor his party was willing to support him (1845). 

511. The Irish Famine. 1845-1849. It was a terrible 
calamity that befell Ireland the same year which converted 
Peel to the policy of free trade in farm products. The repeated 
confiscations of Irish land which had followed the rebellions and 
uprisings of the century from Elizabeth to William III had 
The landlord resulted in a system of landlordism with almost 
evils in the entire nation reduced to a state of tenantry. 1 

Most of the landlords lived in England. Ordi- 
narily they cared for nothing but the profits from the soil and 
they rarely did anything to improve their farms ; at the same 
time, whatever improvements the tenants made were claimed 
by the landlord as belonging to the land. There was nothing 
to induce the tenant to farm for results beyond a mere living : 
he might be evicted as soon as the farm was found in good 
condition, or the landlord might attempt to increase the rent, 
if by the tenant's care and effort the soil was found to yield 
larger and better crops. 

Naturally, therefore, the Irish farmer tried to find the crop 

that would produce the greatest return in food for the least 

_. amount of labor. This he found in the potato. 2 

The potato. . . ^ 

The soil of Ireland is well adapted to the growth 

of this plant, and a field of moderate size would ordinarily yield 

abundant food for the year to come. The necessary labor in 

the potato patch was slight ; the farmer could leave the growing 

crop to the attention of his family, while he sought employment 

elsewhere. Some grain was also raised on the island, but most 

of this was sold in England. 

1 Review sees. 273, 403. 3 Review sec. 26.3. 



THE IRISH FAMINE. 1845-1849 565 

In 1845 a disease came upon the potato and the food supply 
of the people failed. The "potato rot," as the blight was called, 
was general throughout western Europe; 1 but The potato rot. 
only in Ireland, where the population depended 1845 - 
so much on the potato plant, did it cause much suffering. The 
disease reappeared the next year and the misery continued. 
Several years of famine caused inexpressible suffering ; and 
with the famine came pestilence to complete the work. Thou- 
sands perished, while in other thousands died hope and ambition 
and joy of living. 2 

In 1844 the population of the island was about 9,000,000. 
At present it is less than half that number. It is estimated 
that at least 300,000 people died of disease and D ecline of 
starvation during the years of famine ; since then population 
the population has been reduced yearly by emi- 
gration, chiefly to the United States. During the second half 
of the nineteenth century four million Irishmen came to the 
American shores. 

The English people made a great effort to bring relief to the 
starving island. Parliament voted a large sum of money, 
and this was increased by voluntary subscriptions in which 
America joined. Food was rushed to the Irish ports. But 
what Ireland needed was cheap grain, and with the corn laws 
still in force the importation of cheap grain was impossible. 

After having twice failed to induce his cabinet to consent 
to changes in these laws, Robert Peel resigned his office as 
prime minister; but as Lord John Russell, the leader of the 
Whigs, was unable to form a ministry, Peel soon returned to the 
helm. The following year his measure passed the house of 
commons, though most of the Tories voted against it. The tax 
on imported wheat was reduced to a nominal sum. Repeal of the 
The price of wheat went down immediately ; at corn laws * 
present English wheat sells for about sixty cents per bushel. 
The Irish were not helped very much by the repeal ; they had 
no money with which to buy bread at any price. But the 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 432-433. 2 Kendall, No. 137. 



566 PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE 

English workingman now had cheaper bread, and certain forms 

of agitation among the laboring classes quieted down. 

512. Disraeli and the Conservative Party. 1 The repeal 

of the corn laws split the Tory party. The more liberal section, 

which had come to doubt the wisdom of trying to build up any 

trade or industry by legislative favors, followed Peel out of the 

party and for a time formed a distinct parliamentary group 

known as the Peelites. Among the Peelites was William 

Ewart Gladstone, who later rose to a unique position in 

the Liberal party and in the British nation. 
Gladstone. „ , L \ _. . 

Gladstone entered politics in 1833 as a member 

for a pocket borough that had survived the reform of the 

year before. At the time he was a Tory of the sterner type. 

But like his great chief, Robert Peel, his opinions developed 

in the direction of Liberalism and he closed his career in that 

political faith. 

The more conservative wing, which believed strongly in the 

duty of the government to protect English agriculture against 

competition from abroad, found a leader in a 

. brilliant young novelist of Jewish blood, Benjamin 

Disraeli. Unlike Gladstone, Disraeli had entered parliament 

as a radical ; but he soon found it expedient to make terms with 

the Tories, with whom he agreed to the extent of being an 

opponent of Whiggism. Disraeli was a political adventurer : 

he had no interest in the landlord class, and his new political 

associates had little faith in him. But the "Protectionists" 

had no leader who could meet successfully in debate such men 

as Peel, Gladstone, Cobden, and Bright ; Disraeli, who was 

a talented speaker, was easily the first on his side in debate. 

Disraeli never wholly shed his early radicalism, and under his 

leadership the remnant of the Tory party was organized as 

The Conserv- the Conservative party. He gave the party a new 

ative party. political creed and program which emphasized 

the importance of the British Empire and promised a certain 

measure of social reform. 

1 Cheyney, No. 438. 



THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT 567 

But Disraeli and the Protectionists fought a losing battle. 
They had prophesied low prices, bankruptcies, and other dire 
results from the repeal of the corn laws ; these, continued ' 
however, failed to appear. A wave of prosperity prosperity 
had set in which the new legislation was unable m ngan ' 
to retard. In 1848 and 1849 the gold fields of California and 
Australia were discovered, and the sudden increase of the 
world's supply of gold doubtless helped to stimulate English 
trade. With the removal of the tariff on wheat went the whole 
system of protective tariffs. Other ministers followed the 
example of Robert Peel, and for more than a decade Free trade 
the work of reduction and readjustment continued. acce P*ed. 
In 1849 the old navigation acts were also abolished. 1 Three 
years later a resolution that the policy of free trade should be 
"firmly maintained and prudently extended" carried by a 
vote of 468 to 53. The Conservatives quietly dropped the 
matter of protection. For half a century England has remained 
a free trade country. Duties are still levied on certain articles 
like tobacco and spirits, but they are for the purpose of raising 
revenue for the government, not for protecting English agri- 
culture or manufactures. 

513. The Chartist Movement. 2 Robert Peel's ministry 

did not long survive the repeal of the corn laws. The following 

month the Protectionists joined the Whigs and drove the 

Peelites from office. Lord John Russell became prime minister 

and Lord Palmerston was again made foreign secretary. For 

the next twenty years the attention of the people and the 

government was chiefly directed toward foreign 

j • > 1 rr • mi i i • . i Palmerston. 

and imperial affairs. Inrougnout this period 

Palmerston was the leading figure in English politics and one 

of the most prominent statesmen in Europe. 

In February, 1848, a revolution broke out in Paris, which, 

like the July Revolution of 1830, soon spread to the The Revoiu- 

neighboring nations, and in a few months nearly tion of 1848> 

all western and central Europe was in revolt. There was no 

1 Review sees. 339, 355. 2 Bates and Coman, 397-398; Gardiner, 923-924. 



568 PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE 

outbreak in England, but a demonstration in favor of what 
was known as Chartism made the ruling classes very uneasy 
for a time. The object of the Chartist movement was to give 
the laboring classes a share in the government. The working- 
man could not vote, nor could he hope to be chosen member of 
parliament ; if a man of moderate means were elected, he 
could scarcely afford to take his seat, as the members were 
not paid. Chartism began to appear about 1839; its leaders 
were chiefly men of the trade-union type, and the organization 
was not efficiently managed. The program of 
the Chartists, "the People's Charter," comprised 
six points. 1 (1) Universal suffrage; this would give the 
laboring classes the ballot and would make them a power at 
the elections. (2) Vote by secret ballot; the custom was for 
the voter to write his name in the poll-book opposite the name 
of the candidate for whom he voted ; with a secret ballot the 
laborer and the tenant could vote with greater security, as 
their ballot could then no longer be inspected. (3) Abolition 
of the property qualification for membership in parliament ; 
this would open parliament to the candidates of the laboring 
classes. (4) Compensation for members ; this would make 
it possible for workingmen to serve if elected. (5) Equal 
electoral districts. (6) Annual parliaments. 

It was announced in the spring of 1848 that 250,000 men 
were planning to march upon Westminster on April 10 to 
present to parliament a monster petition embodying these 
The Chartist six demands. It was reported that 5,500,000 had 
petition. signed the document. The government took 

great precautions to prevent trouble on the day assigned. 
Soldiers were stationed about at important points and nearly 
200,000 special constables were called into service. The 
Chartists abandoned the procession that they had planned, 
but they presented their petition as announced. 2 It was 
found to contain nearly 2,000,000 names, some of which, 
however, were fictitious. Much ridicule was heaped on the 

1 Cheyney, No. 428. - Ibid., No. 429. 



THE CRIMEAN WAR. 1854-1856 569 

movement when it was learned that the petition fell short of 
the number of signatures announced ; but thinking men soon 
began to realize that the Chartists were a numerous body and 
that their demands could not long remain unheeded. 

Soon after 1848 conditions among the workingmen began to 
improve. Free trade brought cheaper bread. The labor 
unions began- to feel that they ought to let politics alone. The 
Chartist agitation died down, and the movement was rated 
as a failure. Still, it is an important fact that all the demands 
of the People's Charter have been granted with outcome of 
a single exception. There is no longer a demand the Chartist 
for annual parliamentary elections ; members of movemen ■ 
the house of commons have come to be more heedful of the 
wishes of the men who elect them than they were in 1848, 
and the need for short terms is no longer felt. 

514. The Crimean War. 1 1854-1856. The Revolution of 
1848 was not generally successful; but it brought two new 
men into prominence : Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, a nephew 
of the Emperor Napoleon, who had great ambi- Louis 
tions for his dynasty in France ; and Cavour, the Napoleon 
chief minister of the king of Sardinia-Piedmont, 
who dreamed of a united Italy. Louis Napoleon was elected 
president of France in 1848. Three years later he threw the 
constitution of the Second Republic overboard and proceeded 
to make himself emperor of the French. Lord Palmerston, 
who was foreign secretary for the third time, privately expressed 
his approval of Napoleon's act. The nation and the cabinet 
became very indignant when this was learned, and the bluster- 
ing minister was forced to resign. 

In 1854 the new emperor found opportunity to interfere in 
a quarrel between Russia and Turkey into which England and 
later Sardinia-Piedmont were also drawn. The aim of the 
allied powers was to keep Russia from seizing any The war in 
Turkish territory. But when the Russians had the Cnmea 
been forced out of Turkey, the war was unnecessarily carried 

1 Gardiner, 944-948. 



57° 



PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE 



over into Russian territory on the Crimean peninsula, where- 

the Russians had their celebrated stronghold Sevastopol. 1 

To this fortress the allied forces laid siege; but poor 

preparations had been made ; the necessary supplies had not 

been provided; disease 

broke out in the camp; 

and the death rate in the 

hospitals was appalling. 

The government finally 

sent Florence Nightingale, 

Florence an English 

Nightingale. nurse of train _ 

ing and experience, out to 
the East to take charge of 
the hospital service. Un- 
der her efficient manage- 
ment conditions at once 
began to improve and the 
death rate was materially 
reduced. With Florence 
Nightingale's mission to 
the English hospitals in 
Turkey began the modern 

movement for sanitation in military camps, which has done so 
much to lessen the terrors of warfare. 

The news of the suffering in the British camps roused the 
entire kingdom and public sentiment drove the government 
Paimerston's irom office. To her great distress the queen was 
first ministry, finally forced to give Palmerston the reins of 
government. In spite of his seventy years the 
vigorous minister assumed the duty and energetically pursued 
the war to a successful issue. 

515. The Sepoy Mutiny. 2 1857. The Crimean War closed 
in 1856. The next year England was brought face to face 

1 Kendall, No. 140; Tennyson, Charge of the Light Brigade. 

2 Gardiner, 952-955; Kendall, No. 143. 




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THE SEPOY MUTINY. 1857 



57i 



with an uprising in India which threatened destruction to 
British supremacy in the East. 

It is difficult to characterize the government of India in 
the first half of the nineteenth century : it was a matter of 
partnership between the English government and The govem- 
the East India Company. In 1784 William Pitt ment of India, 
had contrived a scheme of administration according to which 




The Old East India House, London 

The headquarters of the East India Company. Charles Lamb served as a 
clerk in this house. Drawing by Herbert Raillon based on an old print. 

the East India Company was allowed to select the officials of 
the Indian service ; but the crown reserved the right to veto 
certain appointments. The act furthermore established a 
"Board of Control" of six members appointed by the crown 
to which the governor-general of India was to be responsible. 
But the board had its offices in England, while the governor- 
general resided in distant Calcutta; consequently the scheme 
did not provide a very effective control. 

In Pitt's day only a relatively small part of India had been 
annexed ; but the governors-general were constantly adding 



572 PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE 

new territories to the company's dominions, and naturally the 
native princes who were still independent began to fear lest 
their own sovereignty should be lost. A conspiracy was 
formed, and a successful effort was made to sow disloyalty 
among the Sepoy regiments that were stationed in the Ganges 
The Sepoy valley. It was represented to them that their 
rebellion. new cartridges were greased with tallow from the 

cow, a holy beast among the Hindus. It was necessary to 
tear off a part of the paper covering with the teeth ; in this 
way the soldiers would be partaking of what was forbidden 
and would lose their caste or station in Hindu 

1857. 

society. "The mutiny began in May, 1857, and 
soon the entire Ganges valley was aflame. 1 But the British 
soldiery with the aid of the Sikhs of Punjab, who had no 
End of the religious scruples in the matter of tallow, were 
mutiny. soon able to quell the uprising, and the autumn 

months saw a return to peaceful submission. 

The chief result of the mutiny was a complete change in the 
system of Indian government. 2 As a governing corporation 
the East India Company came to an end. The government 
India annexed of India was transferred to the crown to be ad- 
to the crown, ministered by a special cabinet member in West- 
minster, the secretary of state for India, assisted by a council 
of experts. In India the governor-general was replaced by a 
viceroy. Since 1877 India has been officially called an empire, 
the king of England holding the title of emperor. Recently an 
The Indian effort has been made to give the empire a fuller 
Empire. meaning to the Hindu mind by removing the seat 

of government to the ancient capital Delhi, where the Great 
Moguls ruled when the English first came to India. 

516. The Last Years of Palmerston. The ten years follow- 
ing the India mutiny were quiet years in English politics. 
In 1858 the Conservatives came to power, but in a few months 
they were overthrown and the Liberals again took control. 
Palmerston was made prime minister for the second time with 

1 Cheyney, No. 435. 2 Ibid., No. 436. 



THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR 573 

Lord John Russell in the foreign office and Gladstone as chan- 
cellor of the exchequer. Of the three Gladstone alone showed 
much energy; he wished to carry out a number of important 
reforms, but his chief vetoed his innovations. Palmerston 
was seventy-five years old when he took office for the last 
time, and he was no longer so aggressive and quarrelsome as 
he had once been. His colleague, Lord John Russell, was a 
younger man and had once been counted among the reformers ; 
but Russell had never favored making very radical changes 
in the social or political constitution of the kingdom. Even 
the foreign office shared in the dull quiet of English politics. 

517. The American Civil War. 1 This strange lack of 
energy is shown clearly in the relations with America during 
the Civil War, especially in the affairs of the Trent and the 
Alabama. In the Trent affair Palmerston was The Trent 
disposed to display some vigor ; but on the advice affair - 
of the dying prince consort, whose last counsel urged peace 
with the daughter nation, the American government was given 
an opportunity to explain and make suitable amends. The 
case of the Alabama illustrates the listless fashion in which the 
two old chiefs conducted her Majesty's government. Russell 

and Palmerston knew that a ship, "No. 200," was _, ., . 

F ' , The Alabama, 

in process of building at Birkenhead ; but they 

had no information as to the intended use of the vessel, simply 

because they sought none. When the British authorities 

finally decided to detain the vessel, it was already on the high 

seas. 

After the war the American government presented claims 
for the depredations committed by the Alabama, and in 1872 
an international arbitration court decided that Palmerston 
and Russell had not been sufficiently watchful in the matter 
and awarded the American claimants the sum of $15,500,000. 

In the earlier stages of the Civil War the cause of the American 
Union had few friends among the governing classes in England. 
It was quite generally believed that the South differed so 

1 Cheyney, No. 439: Gardiner, 958-960; Kendall, No. 145. 



574 PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE 

much from the North that it was entitled to a separate 
Attitude of national existence. The only prominent English- 
the English man who did effective service in the cause of 
toward the the Union was John Bright, whose chief argu- 
Americanwar. ment was t h at t ^ e f orces of the North were right- 
ing the battles of democracy. The war caused much suffering 
in England, especially among the weavers and spinners of 
Sentiment in Lancashire, whose employment was lost because 
Lancashire. cotton could no longer be imported so freely as 
before. But the English workingman had come to see that 
one of the great issues involved was slavery, and he set his face 
against any effort on the part of his government to assist the 
South. It is believed that the English cabinet in the autumn 
of 1862 was ready to intervene in behalf of the Confederacy; 
but before action was taken came the news that Lincoln pro- 
posed to emancipate the slaves on the following New Year's 
Day. Lincoln's proclamation stayed the hand of Palmerston, 
for the English nation now refused to enlist on the side of the 
South. 

518. Summary. The first thirty years of the reign of 
Queen Victoria are properly called the age of Palmerston. 
During most of this period he was a member of the government, 
first as foreign secretary, then for a few years in the home 
office, and finally as prime minister. He was easily the most 
popular man in England, but was at the same time exceedingly 
unpopular in the Continental capitals. Palmerston's per- 
sonality is reflected in nearly all the great events of the time. 
Except for the repeal of the corn laws there was little domestic 
legislation of an important character during this period. The 
interest of the time was chiefly in the development of the 
Imperial British Empire. During the age of Palmerston 

growth. ^e government of British America was reorganized 

and the foundations laid for the Dominion of Canada. New 
commonwealths were being founded in Australia. The crown 
took over the administration of India, and the East India 
Company as a governing body passed out of history. In the 



SUMMARY 575 

closing years of Palmerston's career, England was stronger and 
more prosperous than ever before. A number of English and 
Irish problems were, however, pressing for solution. These 
Lord Palmerston left to his great successor as chief of the 
Liberal party, William E. Gladstone. 

REFERENCES 

Canada. — Lee, Queen Victoria, 82-86; Masterman, History of the British 
Constitution, 237-241; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 955-9 575 Wood- 
ward, Expansion of the British Empire, 254-259. 

Australia. — Innes, History of England, 838-841; Woodward, 266-271. 

Peel and the free trade movement.— Innes, 822-826; Lee, 165-172; 
Ransome, 969-972; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 662-666. 

Chartism. — Ransome, 957~95 8 > 974~975- 

The Crimean War. — Cross, History of England, 959-965; Innes, 857- 
862; Lee, cc. xix-xxi; Ransome, 981-992. 

The Sepoy Mutiny. — Beard, Introduction to the English Historians, 638- 
644 (Hunter); Cross, 969-974; Innes, 864-872; Ransome, 993-996; Wood- 
ward, 324-328. 

England and the American Civil War. — Innes, 881-882; Ransome, 
999-1000. 



CHAPTER XXVII 
GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND 

519. The Second Reform Act. 1 Palmerston died in 1865, 
and his place at the head of the government fell to Earl Russell, 
who now became prime minister for the second time. The 
Russell's Chartist agitation of twenty years before was at 

second last to bring fruit. 2 Russell was not enthusiastic 

for further parliamentary reform, but Gladstone, 
who as chancellor of the exchequer was second in command, 
practically forced his chief to act. A moderate reform measure 
was introduced into the house of commons, but it pleased 
neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives, and the ministry, 
realizing the situation, resigned. 

The Conservatives now assumed control of the government 
with Lord Derby as prime minister and Benjamin Disraeli as 
The third chancellor of the exchequer. Twice before these 

Derby-Disraeli two men had held these same offices, but for brief 
periods only. Lord Derby had originally been a 
Whig and had fought with Grey and Russell for the great 
reform of 1832. He was, however, of a conservative temper, 
and the reform activities of his party soon drove him over into 
the Tory camp. Derby was not in favor of parliamentary 
reform at this time, but his younger colleague realized that the 
Conservatives would have to meet the demand or leave office, 
and in 1867 Disraeli set about to contrive a measure which 
proved acceptable and became a law the same year. 

The Reform Act of 1867, 3 the Conservative "leap in the 
dark," as Lord Derby called it, went farther in the direction of 

1 Cheyney, No. 441; Gardiner, 961-962; Masterman, 201-202. 

2 Review sec. 513. 3 Review sec. 496. 

576 



DISRAELI AND GLADSTONE 



577 



radicalism than the Liberals had proposed to go. Eleven 
boroughs were wholly deprived of representation The Second 
in parliament, and thirty-five lost one member Reform Act. 

1867 

each. More important, however, was the exten- 
sion of the suffrage. In the boroughs every man who occupied 
his own or a rented house was allowed to vote ; Household 
this was called " household suffrage." 1 The vote suffra s e - 
was also given to lodge: s 
who paid £10 in annual 
rent. In the counties the 
franchise was extended to 
all who owned or rented for 
life a parcel of land that 
would yield £5 in rent to 
the owner ; short-time ten- 
ants who paid a yearly rent 
of £12 were also allowed to 
vote. Thus the right to 
vote was given to the 
workingmen of the cities ; 
but the country laborer was 
not yet enfranchised. 

520. Disraeli and Glad- 
stone. A few months after 
,10 , . 1 j Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield 

the Conservatives had 

taken their "leap in the dark," Lord Derby resigned his high 
ofhce and Disraeli became prime minister. From R et i rem ent 
that time on till Disraeli's death in 1881, English of Lord 
political, history is a long duel between the keen, er y ' 
conservative leader and his great progressive opponent, Wil- 
liam E. Gladstone. 2 Disraeli's interest, like that of Palmer- 
ston before the years had weakened him, lay Di srae ii' s 
almost wholly in foreign affairs : he was drawn interest in 
especially toward the Orient, the land that had 
been so closely associated with the history of his own 

1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 73. 2 Cheyney, No. 437; Tuell and Hatch, No. 68. 




GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND 



race. 1 But he was not permitted to choose his line of action 
at this particular time. A few months after his elevation to 
the premiership Gladstone forced the Irish question into par- 
liamentary politics. As the majority of the house of commons 
was against him, Disraeli ordered new elections under the law 
of 1867. The Liberals were victorious and the Conservatives 
left the cabinet (1868). 

521. Gladstone's Reform Ministry. The queen promptly 
sent for Gladstone 
and gave the gov- 
ernment into his 
hands. Gladstone 
was one of the most 
remarkable men of 
his century : 2 four 
times he was called 

to the 
Gladstone. 

office of 

prime minister ; and 
until his resignation 
in 1894 he retained 
the undisputed lead- 
ership of the Liberal 
party. He did not 
have the quick vis- 
ion of genius ; but 
he was highly tal- 
ented and presented 
his plans and meas- 
ures with wonderful 

power. Gladstone was interested chiefly in domestic problems 
and legislation. During his first ministry the English school 
system was organized ; the English universities were opened 
to Catholics and dissenting Protestants ; an act providing for 
a secret ballot was passed ; the central courts were reorganized 

1 Review sec. 512. - Review sees. 512, 516. 




William Ewart Gladstone 



GLADSTONE'S REFORM MINISTRY 579 

along modern lines ; and the old practice of buying offices in 
the army was abolished. 1 

The education act was of singular importance : it gave 
England a system of public schools supported by the govern- 
ment and managed by school boards elected by _. 

.. ,. Education, 

taxpayers. Religion according to the Anglican 

standards was to be taught in these schools, but the children 
of Catholics and non-conformists were not to be compelled to 
receive such instruction. The fact remains, however, that 
taxpayers who are not Anglicans have to contribute to Anglican 
instruction ; and this question of public education still remains 
unsettled. The new organization of the courts was supple- 
mented by important changes in the methods of judicial 
trial. Under the new English system, men charged reforms - 
with crime are brought to trial without unnecessary delay ; 
the long, tedious trials extending sometimes through weeks 
and months which are still common in America are almost 
unknown in England. In forbidding the sale of offices in the 
army, the government ended a scandalous prac- p urcriase of 
tice but did not accomplish a real reform. The commissions 
army is still officered from the aristocratic classes. in e army " 
There is, however, a strong movement looking toward a more 
democratic practice by allowing promotion from the ranks. 

The Reform Act of 1867 did not alter the methods of voting. 
It was still customary to record the vote of every man in the 
poll-book, where every one could see how he had The Ballot 
cast his ballot. Under such conditions the right Act l872# 
to vote was of little service to the newly enfranchised farmer 
or workingman : his landlord or his employer would often force 
him by threats or otherwise to vote for his own candidate. 
Independent voting could easily be punished by the loss of 
work or by the refusal to renew a lease. To remedy this 
condition the Liberals in 1872 supplemented the reform measure 
with a Ballot Act 2 which provided for a secret ballot at parlia- 
mentary elections. 

1 Gardiner, 964-965. 2 Masterman, 203-204. 



580 GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND 

522. The Problem of Ireland. The greatest problem that 
Gladstone had to face was how to bring peace and contentment 
to the people of Ireland. It was a vote on this question that 
had made him prime minister ; and the Irish problem followed 
him to the end of his long career. 

The Irish question was a complicated one, but three distinct 
problems were prominent. (1) There was the old problem of 
The Irish the land and the rights of the tenants who were 

problems. working the land. (2) There was the problem of 

the Anglican church in Ireland : for three hundred years the 
Irish Catholics had been compelled to support a Protestant 
church to which only a fraction of the population counted them- 
selves as belonging. (3) Since the days of Catholic emancipa- 
tion a new problem had arisen in a demand for the repeal of the 
Act of Union * and a separate government for Ireland. This 
is known as the demand for "home rule." Gladstone did not 
at this time believe that Ireland should be given a separate 
parliament ; but he felt that the Irish had a real grievance in 
being denied higher education in their own country. There 
was no Irish university; Trinity College in Dublin was an 
Anglican institution which no Catholic Irishman could well 
attend. 

523. The Repeal Movement and the Fenians. Soon after 
his admission to parliament, Daniel O'Connell 2 began to 
agitate for the repeal of the act of 1801 which had united 
The repeal the parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland. As 
movement. tne English government suspected that this was 
merely a step toward complete independence for Ireland, the 
movement was vigorously opposed and the leaders were prose- 
cuted. For a time the great orator had a formidable following ; 
Young but as he believed in "moral force" and legal 
Ireland. means only, the more aggressive Irishmen soon 
began to leave him. These organized a new party called 
"Young Ireland," which favored radical and even violent 
measures. 

1 Review sec. 481. 2 Review sec. 495. 



LAND ACT OF 1870 AND THE UNIVERSITY BILL 581 

The great famine and the consequent emigration to America 
called the attention once more to the evils of the landlord 
system and for a time the repeal agitation languished. But 
in 1858 the demand for a free Ireland became the chief purpose 
of a wide-spread secret society, the Fenian Brother- 
hood. The Fenians were strong and numerous 
in Ireland, but stronger still among the Irish Americans. The 
American Civil War prevented activities in Ireland for some 
years; but when that war was over, the Fenians began to plan for 
an uprising in Ireland and for an invasion of Canada by Irish 
Americans. The English government was well informed, 1 how- 
ever, as to the plans of the brotherhood, and the movement failed. 

524. The Disestablishment of the Irish Church. The 

Fenian uprising, with the trials and executions that followed 

in its wake, made a deep impression on the English mind. 

There was no sentiment for Irish home rule in England, nor 

did any one feel prepared to suggest a solution for the Irish 

land problem ; but many Englishmen were con- Disestablish- 

vinced that to force the Irish Catholics to maintain ment of the 
t^ , , Miii Irish Prot - 

Protestant churches was an evil that ought to be estant Church. 

remedied at once. Gladstone brought the matter 1869 - 

up in the house of commons and carried a resolution in favor of 

disestablishing the Anglican church in Ireland (1868). It 

was this resolution that led to the downfall of the Disraeli 

ministry. The next year Gladstone introduced a bill for the 

disestablishment of the Protestant church in Ireland. It met 

with bitter opposition from the Conservatives, but after a 

long fight it became a law (1869). 

The Anglican church in Ireland was allowed to retain all its 

church buildings and ample provision was made for the support 

of the clergy. But it was no longer to be a state church ; it 

could collect no more tithes from reluctant Irishmen ; and its 

bishops lost their seats in the house of lords. 

525. The Land Act of 1870 and the University Bill. One of 
the three great problems had now been solved. The Gladstone 

1 Review sec. 480. 



582 GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND 

ministry next undertook to settle the question of the land, 
The Land Act but with slight success. The Irish Land Act of 
of 1870. 1870 provided that when a tenant left his farm 

he could demand payment for the improvements that he had 
made upon it. It also enabled a tenant, who had faithfully 
paid the rent as agreed, to collect damages if his landlord dis- 
missed him for any other reason. The act further provided 
that, if the landlord should be forced to sell his land, it should 
be sold to the tenants, if they wished to buy their farms. The 
The principle government arranged to lend money to the ten- 
of land ants who might wish to buy under these circum- 

purc ase. stances. Thus the correct principle, that of land 

purchase by government assistance, had been found and 
stated, but it was applied in special cases only. Several 
thousand tenants were enabled to buy their farms under the 
provisions of this law, but on the whole Gladstone's Land Act 
was a failure. 

During the following three years the Liberal cabinet was 
busied with domestic problems of a more general nature : 
education, the ballot, the courts, the purchase of commissions 
in the army and the like. 1 In 1873 Gladstone returned to the 
Irish question, this time to the subject of higher education. 
The University He planned to establish an Irish University which 
Bill. 1873. was to De p en to students of all creeds, but in 
which disputed subjects such as philosophy, theology, and 
history, were not to be taught. The bill was rejected. Of 
the three Irish grievances that he recognized as legitimate 
Gladstone had redressed one ; he had also indicated the proper 
principle for the solution of the land question, but the problem 
itself had not been touched. 

526. The Irish Land League. After five years of Liberalism 
Gladstone's and reform England began to tire of Gladstone, 
foreign policy. jjj s f ore ign policy was also on the whole unsatis- 
factory to the nation: it was not "aggressive" enough to suit 
the average Englishman. The prime minister looked at foreign 

1 See sec. 521. 



THE IRISH LAND LEAGUE 583 

politics from an unusual point of view : with him the question 
was not what would bring profit to England, but what seemed 
just and equitable toward the peoples concerned. It was dur- 
ing his first ministry that the Alabama claims were settled 
(1872) ; the outcome of the arbitration was very distasteful to 
the English voter. 1 

In the elections of 1874 the Conservatives won a decisive 
victory and Disraeli became prime minister once more. Dis- 
raeli was a theoretical believer in social reform; he had once 
written that "the social happiness of the millions should be 
the first object of a statesman," and that "the rights of labor 
were as sacred as those of property." But the Conservative 
party had no important legislative program to offer, and 
Disraeli proposed to direct the attention of the English people 
toward colonial expansion and foreign politics. 2 In the 
Irish question he showed little interest. 

Ireland, however, was not at peace. All through the six 
years of Conservative rule there was much unrest on the island. 
This culminated in the formation of the Land Michael 
League, which was organized in 1879 by Michael Davltt - 
Davitt, who had once been a leader among the Fenians. The 
purpose of the League was to make war on the English land- 
lords and their partisans in Ireland. Its program consisted of 
three chief demands, the so-called three F's : fair rent, fixed 
hold, and free sale. By "fair rent" the leaders The " three 
of the Land League meant a rent that was not F ' s> " 
fixed exclusively by the owner of the land, as the landlords had 
a habit of raising the rent to a point that the tenants regarded 
as unreasonable; a fair rent would consequently imply a 
reduction of rents. By "fixed hold" the League meant that a 
tenant should not be deprived of his farm so long as he paid 
the specified rent. But if a farmer wished to surrender his 
farm, it was held that he should be allowed to sell his interest 
in the land, or his right to remain upon it, to another tenant : 
this was called "free sale." 

1 Review sec. 517. 2 See sees. 540-541, 552-553- 



584 GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND 

For more than a year the Land Leaguers and their followers 
terrorized the island. They would allow the farmers to pay 
Methods of on ^ wnat the tenants considered a fair rent, 
the Land Those who paid what the landlords demanded 

were persecuted in a variety of ways : their cattle 
were maimed ; their crops were destroyed ; threatening letters 
were sent to them ; shots were fired through their windows. 
Landlords and their agents were especially made to feel the 
displeasure of the League. A certain agent, Captain Boycott, 
found life in Ireland exceedingly hard : since his day the word 
"boycott" has come to stand for the sort of treatment that 
the League meted out to the unfortunate captain and to 
others of his kind. 

527. The Home Rule Party. Just before the close of 
Gladstone's first ministry there was organized a new political 
The Nation- party with self-government for Ireland as its 
alist party. chief tenet. Though officially this body is known 
as the Nationalist party, its members are generally called 
"Home Rulers." The Home Rule party was not taken 
seriously at first; but in 1875 a young man from County 
Wicklow, Charles Stewart Parnell, entered parliament and 
took his place among the Home Rulers. Parnell was a cold, 
silent, and reserved man who showed little promise as a par- 
Charles Uamentary leader; but it was not long before he 
Stewart . became a chief among the Irish members, and 
under his leadership the Nationalist group became 
a terror to English politicians. It was the purpose of Parnell 
and his followers to block legislative business until the house 
of commons should be willing to take up the question of "re- 
peal." They made endless speeches on the most trivial sub- 
Tactics of the jects, raised objections whenever possible, and 
Home Rulers. usua n v voted "no" on all proposed legislation. 
The discipline of the party was perfect ; Parnell was in com- 
plete control. When Disraeli left the cabinet in 1880, the 
Home Rule party counted sixty votes in the house of commons. 
Several of the leading members, including Parnell, were Prot- 



THE LAND ACT OF 1881 585 

estants. The money required to carry on the Home Rule 
campaign was largely collected among the Irishmen of the 
United States. 

528. The Land Act of 1881. The election of 1880 was not 
fought on the Irish question : it was Disraeli's "spirited foreign 
policy" and his apparent love for petty but expensive wars 
that the electors were asked to approve or condemn. But 
when Gladstone as the result of the election returned to leader- 
ship in the government, it was the Irish situation that gave 
most concern. The " agrarian crimes," as the "Agrarian 
persecution of landlords, agents, and obedient cnmes -" 
tenants was called, were exceedingly numerous in the autumn 
of 1880. More than 2500 such crimes were committed in that 
year, and the government held the Land League responsible 
for these. The landlords on their side evicted more than 
10,000 tenants who had refused to pay the stipulated rent or 
had otherwise offended the owners of their farms. 

The new government recognized the fact that the tenants 
had a real grievance ; but Gladstone insisted that crime must 
be suppressed before legislation could be undertaken. The 
titular head of the government in Ireland is the Lord Lieutenant, 
who is the personal representative of the king and resides in 
Dublin. But the most important official is the The Chief 
Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, who . is Secretary 
secretary only in name. It is to the chief secre- 
tary that the kingdom and parliament look for the solution of 
Irish problems. W. E. Forster, the new chief, secretary, asked 
parliament to pass an act for the preservation of the peace, 
which virtually permitted the lord lieutenant to imprison any 
one whom he regarded as an enemy to the peace The " Crimes 
of the island. The bill was passed and Parnell Act " 
with several of the other leaders was thrown into prison and 
detained for several months without trial. 

This act was accompanied by another Land Act which 
virtually granted everything that the Land League had con- 
tended for. The new law provided for a land court which 



586 GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND 



was empowered to fix rents, to value improvements, and to 
watch over the rights of the tenant farmers. The Land Act 
The Land Act of 1 88 1 was an important forward step, but it 
of 1881. ^id not p rov i(i e a fi na i settlement, for the land- 

lords still owned the land. 

529. Failure of Gladstone's Irish Policy. Gladstone soon 
began to feel that his policy of repression was a failure. Parnell 
was released from prison 
on the understanding that 
he would support the 
measures of the govern- 
ment. Gladstone on his 
part promised conciliation 
and further legislation to 
remedy conditions in Ire- 
land. Forster, disgusted 
with this change of policy, 
resigned his office, and the 
prime minister sent Lord 
Frederick Cavendish to 
Ireland as chief secretary. 

The Phcenix One day, while 
Park tragedy. the new secre _ 

tary was walking through 
Phcenix Park, Dublin, he 
fell in with Thomas Burke, 
another government offi- 
cial, who was deeply hated 
in Ireland. Suddenly a 
band of revolutionists surrounded the two men and slew them 
both. The tragedy filled the entire kingdom with horror. 
Conciliation was stricken from the Liberal program and coer- 
cion took its place. The alliance between Gladstone and Parnell 
was broken, and the solution of the remaining Irish problems 
was made exceedingly difficult. The prime minister turned his 
attention to other questions. 




Charles Stewart Parnell 
After the painting by Sydney P. Hall. 



SETTLEMENT OF THE IRISH LAND PROBLEM 587 

530. The Third Parliamentary Reform Act. 1 1884-1885. 

The reform act of 1867 had enfranchised the workingmen in the 
boroughs but it had left the country laborers still without the 
ballot. 2 There was an insistent demand for a new franchise 
law that should remedy this defect, and Gladstone determined 
to yield to this demand. In 1884 the government passed a 
reform bill through the lower house, but the lords Franchise 
rejected it on the plea that if the franchise were to reform - lg 84. 
be extended, there ought also to be a new distribution of par- 
liamentary seats. Gladstone adopted the suggestion, and on 
his promise to take up the matter of parliamentary reform the 
lords accepted his measure. The promised bill was passed the 
following year. It was drawn up by the leaders of both politi- 
cal parties and was therefore not a partisan measure. 

The reform acts of 1884 and 1885 took a long step toward 
political democracy. About two millions, chiefly laborers in 
the country districts, were given the right to vote. Parliamentary 
At the same time England was divided as nearly reform - 18 85. 
as might be into equal parliamentary districts, each sending one 
member to the house of commons. A large number of small 
boroughs were deprived of their right to a separate represen- 
tation, and the larger cities received a corresponding increase 
in membership. The reluctance of the house of lords to ex- 
tend the franchise led to severe criticism of that Agitation 
body and to an organized movement to deprive against the 
the peers of their seats in the upper chamber. ouse ° or s ' 
This movement has recently gained considerable strength, and 
the question of "ending or mending" the house of lords is a 
political one at the present time. 3 

531. The Settlement of the Irish Land Problem. The 
Home Rule party was much displeased with Gladstone's atti- 
tude toward Irish questions, and soon after the passage of the 
third reform act, Parnell threw the strength of his following to 
the Conservative side and the Liberals were outvoted. Lord 
Salisbury, who had served under Disraeli, now became prime 

1 Masterman, 202-203. 2 Review sec. 519. 3 Cheyney, No. 446. 



588 GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND 

minister as the head of a Conservative government. He de- 
Lord cided not to continue repression in Ireland and to 
Salisbury. attempt a solution of the land problem. Accord- 
ingly his party passed a Land Purchase Act, the first in a series 
of five such laws. The government set aside a sum of about 
The First $25,000,000 from which the Irish farmers might 
Land Purchase borrow what they needed to purchase the land 
that they tilled. The purchase price was to be 
repaid in forty-nine annual instalments. Several thousand 
tenants took advantage of this act and bought their farms. 

Two years later, when Lord Salisbury was prime minister 
for the second time he chose his nephew, Arthur James Balfour, 
Arthur James to be chief secretary for Ireland. Balfour was a 
Balfour. brilliant scholar who has also proved a sagacious 

political leader. In parliament he fought the Home Rulers on 
all points ; in Ireland he was a close student of every phase of 
Irish affairs. On his recommendation the policy of land pur- 
Later land chase was continued. In 1888 a second act was 
purchase acts. p asse d anc [ three years later a third act of this kind. 
By the act of 1891 the sum of $170,000,000 was set aside as 
a loan fund from which those who wished to buy their farms 
might borrow. The terms were the same as under the act of 
1885. 

Since 1891 two other land purchasing acts have been passed, 
the last in 1903 when Balfour was prime minister. These laws 
have made it possible for every Irish farmer to be his own land- 
lord. They have all been enacted by the Conservative party; 
but the principle followed was first stated in Gladstone's Land 
Act of 1870. The land purchase acts have proved a success, 
and the Irish land question has passed out of English politics. 

532. The First Home Rule Bill. 1886. The demand for 
Home Rule remained, and to this demand the Conservatives 
would not listen. Lord Salisbury^ first ministry was conse- 
quently short-lived. Soon after the passage of the first land 
purchase act the Irish members joined the Liberals for the 
moment, and Gladstone returned to the premiership. 



THE FIRST HOME RULE BILL. 1886 



5S9 



Gladstone had by this time become convinced that a sepa- 
rate parliament for Ireland was the only solution of the Irish 
problem. He formed an alliance with the Par- Gladstone and 
nellites and prepared a bill for the creation of a home rule, 
government at Dublin. The lord lieutenant or viceroy was to 
remain at the head as formerly, and the English parliament 

was to continue legislating 
for Ireland in all matters 
affecting the empire ; but in 
this parliament Ireland was 
no longer to be represented. 1 
The bill caused a serious 
split in the Liberal party : 
ninety-three members of 
the house of commons led 
by Joseph Thesplitin 
Chamberlain, the Liberal 
Lord Harting- party ' 
ton, and John Bright re- 
fused to vote for the Home 
Rule Bill, and the measure 
was defeated. The seceders 
organized themselves into 

T ^ a new party called the Lib- 

Joseph Chamberlain . J 

eral Unionist. This group 

maintained a separate organization for some time, though for 

the most part it gave loyal support to the measures of the 

Conservatives. Finally, however, the Liberal Unionists were 

merged with the Conservatives into a new organization, the 

Unionist party. 

Joseph Chamberlain w T as a manufacturer from Birmingham 

and was classed as a radical. Lord Hartington represented 

the old Whig element in the Liberal party. Between the two 

there was not agreement on all measures ; but they were united 

in opposition to anything that looked like a dissolution of the 

1 Cheyney, No. 447; Tuell and Hatch, No. 74. 




59© GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND 

British Empire. The radicals in the Liberal party did not re 
Joseph gret to lose Lord Hartington and his following o 

Chamberlain, aristocratic Whigs ; but the loss of Joseph Chamber 
lain was a hard blow. Many of them had been looking forwan 
to a time when he should succeed the aged Gladstone as chie. 
of the Liberal forces, and they found it hard to think of him as 
allied with the Tories. 

533. The Second Home Rule Bill. A defeated cabinet 
may either resign or call a new election, " appeal to the coun- 
try," 1 as it is called in England. Gladstone chose the latter 
course, but his party was overwhelmingly defeated. The 
United Kingdom was clearly opposed to home rule for Ireland. 
Six years later, however, another election was fought on the 
same issue, though the Liberals also emphasized other ques- 
tions. In this election Gladstone and the Home Rulers were 

victorious. The new parliament on a motion by 
Asquith. . 

H. H. Asquith voted a lack of confidence in the 

Conservative government. Lord Salisbury resigned, and the 
" Grand Old Man," who was now eighty-two years old, became 
prime minister for the fourth time. Among the members of 
his cabinet were Lord Rosebery, who took the foreign office ; 
Gladstone's Asquith, who took charge of the home depart- 
fourth ment ; and John Morley, an English man of letters, 

who was made chief secretary for Ireland. 
A new bill for the government of Ireland was prepared and 
promptly introduced. It differed from the earlier plan chiefly 
The Second m tnat ^ provided for an Irish membership of 
Home Rule eighty in the English parliament, who were, how- 
ever, to have the right to speak and vote on Irish 
questions only. After a long and bitter debate the bill passed 
the house of commons by a small majority ; but when it came 
to the house of lords, it was rejected by the decisive vote of 
419 to 41 (1893). 

534. The Passing of Gladstone. The next year Gladstone 
retired from public life and Lord Rosebery succeeded him as 

1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 72. 



THE UNIONISTS IN CONTROL 591 

prime minister and leader of the Liberal party. Since 1832 
Gladstone had been almost continuously a mem- Lord 
ber of the house of commons. Since 1852 he had R osebery. 
served in every Liberal cabinet. For nearly thirty years he 
had been the most prominent figure in English politics and one 
of the most eminent of the world's statesmen. At the time of 
his retirement, however, he was not popular in England : his 
countrymen resented his efforts to secure home rule for Ireland. 
But during the last four years of his life the dislike Death of 
wore away, and England once more began to real- Gladst <> n e. 
ize the greatness of the man. When he died (in 1898) lords 
and princes bore his body to the tomb, and the entire world 
joined in doing honor to his memory. 

535. The Unionists in Control. After the failure of the first 
home rule bill, the Conservatives came into control of the 
government and this control they managed to keep almost con- 
tinuously for twenty years (1 886-1 906) ; only during the years 
1892-1895, the period of the Gladstone-Rosebery government, 
did the Liberals have control of the house of commons. The 
alliance with the Liberal Unionists added greatly to the Con- 
servative strength both in numbers and in ability ; but the 
support was not without its price. To please the radical 
Chamberlain his new associates passed two important reform 
measures : a new Education Act, which created free public 
schools for England and Wales ; and a County Councils Act, 
which provided a new form of county government. For nearly 
five centuries the local government had been in The county 
the hands of the local justices of the peace meeting coun e ils - 
in quarter sessions. On the whole the management of county 
affairs had been honest, economical, and efficient ; but the sys- 
tem was not democratic, as the justices were selected by the 
central government, not by the voters of the counties. The 
pupose of the new law was to give the people a voice in the 
control of county affairs. The quarter sessions were deprived 
of \:heir administrative powers * and these were transferred to 

1 Review sec. 179. 



592 GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND 



a new body, the county council, most of the members of which 
were chosen directly by the voters of the county. These bodies 
were patterned after the councils that were governing the 
boroughs. Some of the larger counties were divided and each 
section was made a separate administrative county. All of 
what is usually called London outside of the old City of London, 
a densely populated area composed of nearly thirty separate 
boroughs, has also been formed into a county with a government 
of the council type. In 
1894 the Liberals extended 
this system of local govern- 
The parish m e n t to the 
council. parishes, areas 

that correspond roughly to 
the American towns or 
townships, by providing 
parish meetings and parish 
councils. The parish meet- 
ing is an assembly of the 
citizens of the parish some- 
what like the American 
town meeting ; the parish 
council has general over- 
sight of the business of the 
parish. Thus by the close 
of the century, the govern- 
ment of England, both local and central, had been made essen- 
tially democratic. 

536. The Close of the Victorian Era. Soon after the open- 
ing of the new century, January 22, 1901, Queen Victoria died; 
and the prince of Wales mounted the throne of the United 
Kingdom as Edward VII. For more than sixty- 
three years Victoria had borne the English crown. 
In 1887 the fiftieth anniversary of her reign was celebrated 
amid great rejoicing and much display. Ten years later the 
queen's diamond jubilee gave occasion for even more pomp and 





•v 


n- 


JJ>w ' 




B^jL' 


Hy 


'J' Mi -fljfffflllB ^Nk, '*-*•** 

m 




... .y m 



Edward VII 



The jubilees. 



SUMMARY 593 

deeper expressions of loyalty. These jubilees naturally led to 
elaborate surveys of the progress that the, kingdom had made 
during her reign, and the results of these were very impressive. 
The nineteenth century is the age of steam and electricity; of 
the steamship and the railway ; of the telegraph ]y[ aterial 
and the telephone ; of the electric car and the progress of 
automobile. The scientific discoveries and the * e reign# 
mechanical inventions of the century affected profoundly the 
conditions of life. During the queen's reign the population 
of England doubled ; while the wealth of the kingdom grew 
to more than three times what it was in 1837. The British 
Empire had grown till it comprised one-fourth of the world's 
land area, and had brought more than 400,000,000 people, at 
least one-fifth of the population of the globe, under the 
authority of the British crown. British trade had increased 
sixfold, and the English merchant marine carried English 
products to every port in the world. Every other field of 
life had felt the same impulse of progress. 

537. Summary. During the generation that followed the 
passage of the second parliamentary reform bill (1867-1901), 
the political life of the United Kingdom saw many important 
changes. A public school system was founded. Workingmen 
were given the right to vote. Balloting was made secret. 
The government of the counties and parishes was reorganized 
according to democratic principles. Many other Domestic 
important reforms were enacted. The question le s isla tion. 
of first importance, however, was the Irish problem in its three 
phases : the church, the land, and home rule. Gladstone settled 
the first of these by the act of 1869 disestablishing the Irish 
church. His successor as prime minister, Benjamin The Irish 
Disraeli, showed little interest in the Irish ques- church - 
tion ; his indifference, however, indirectly added strength to 
two important movements : the Irish founded a Land League 
to force the settlement of the land question ; they had also 
organized a Home Rule party to work for the repeal of the 
Act of Union. When the Liberals came into power again in 



594 GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND 

1880, Gladstone granted the demands of the Land League. 
The Irish land The Conservatives under the leadership of Lord 
problem. Salisbury and Arthur James Balfour found a final 

settlement for the Irish 
land question by the 
passage of a series of 
land purchase acts, 
which have enabled 
many thousands of 
Irish peasants to buy 
the farms that they 
tilled. In 1886 Glad- 
stone proposed to 
solve the Irish ques- 

Home rule tion once 
for Ireland. f or aU by 

granting home rule. 
The measure proposed 
was defeated, however, 
as was also a second 
measure which the 
house of commons 
passed in 1893. In 
1894 Gladstone re- 
tired, and two years 
later the Conservative, or Unionist, party again came into con- 
trol of the English government. Not till nearly twenty years 
later, was a serious effort made to give home rule to Ireland. 




Arthur James Balfour 



REFERENCES 

The parliamentary reform of 1867. — Beard, Introduction to the English 
Historians, 572-581 (Walpole); Masterman, History of the British Constitution, 
201-202. 

The first Gladstone ministry. — Innes, History of England, 894-900; 
Ransome, Advanced History of England, 1008-1014; Tout, Advanced History 
of Great Britain, 676-679. 



REFERENCES 595 

Th£ Land League. — Johnston and Spencer, Ireland's Story, 325-326; 
Ransome, 1023-1025. 

The Home Rule movement. — Masterman, 185-187; Ransome, 1022- 
1023, 1030-1032, 1038. 

The parliamentary reform of 1 884-1 885. — Beard, 582-593 (Morley). 

The Irish Land Acts. — Johnston and Spencer, c. xxx. 

The county councils. — Masterman, c. xxv. 

The nineteenth century. — Cross, History of England, 1039-1063; Tout, 
695-708; Wrong, History of the British Nation, c. xxii. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 
THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE 

538. England in Africa. During the last half century Eng- 
land has made important additions to her territories over the 
seas, notably in Africa. In the Dark Continent English ex- 
pansion has been from three directions : from Egypt southward 
English expan- into the Soudan ; from British East Africa north- 
sion in Africa. we stward to the head waters of the Nile ; and from 
Cape Colony northward into the valley of the Zambezi River 
and beyond. England has thus come into possession of a 
broad and almost continuous strip of territory extending from 
the mouth of the Nile to the Cape of Good Hope. The two 
political parties have both shared in this expansion ; but the 
greater credit belongs to the Unionists. Many a venturesome 
Briton has found great wealth in these regions ; but the history 
of England in Africa also illustrates the more serious phase of 
empire building, for much of this territory was purchased by 
the war with the Boers, the most expensive single war in Eng- 
lish history. 

539. Cape Colony and the Boer Republics. The Dutch 
founded a settlement at the Cape of Good Hope in the days of 
The Dutch at Cromwell and held the colony till 1796 when it 
the Cape. was se i zec j by the English. Ten years later it 
became definitely a British possession. Cape Colony had 
already a considerable population composed chiefly of Dutch 
farmers or Boers; the number was soon materially increased 
by English immigration. The slow-moving Boer did not like 
the more aggressive Englishman and there was friction in the 
colony from the very beginning of English rule. The Boers 
had enslaved the native blacks in large numbers; but in 1834 

596 



THE ANNEXATION OF TRANSVAAL 597 

slavery was abolished in all British dominions, and many of 
the Boers felt that they could endure the British rule no longer. 
They determined to seek another land where they could enjoy 
freedom and keep slaves. Beginning the next year, these dis- 
satisfied Dutch migrated in large numbers to the northeast 
beyond the borders of Cape Colony and founded The " trek" 
the republic of Natal. But the English followed t0 NataL 
them, and in 1841, after a stubborn resistance on the part of 
the Boers, Natal was annexed to the British crown. 

The Boer migration was now directed to the country beyond 
the Orange River. This region was also claimed as British 
territory but in 1853 the claim was surrendered The Orange 
and the Boers organized a second republic, the Free state - 
Orange River Free State. During the conflict between the 
government of the Cape and the Dutch settlers in the Orange 
River country, a number of Boers traveled still farther to the 
north across the Vaal River to a region nearly The Transvaal 
one thousand miles from Cape Town. Here they Re P UDli c 
built up the South African or Transvaal Republic. Thus all 
the four states that make up the South African Union were 
founded by the Dutch. 

540. The Annexation of Transvaal. For twenty years the 
English government showed little interest in the Boer republics. 
But during Disraeli's second ministry a danger appeared on 
the borders of Natal that the British authorities at the Cape 
could not afford to ignore. Along the east fron- The Boers and 
tier of the Boer republics lived the Zulus, a very the Zulus - 
capable and aggressive people of the Kaffir stock. The Zulu 
chiefs wished to extend their territories, and in so doing they 
came into conflict with the white settlers. It was Disraeli's 
plan to organize a federation in South Africa on the Canadian 
plan, and as a preliminary step Transvaal was annexed (1877). 
This act saved the Boer states from destruction, but it dis- 
pleased both the Boers and the Zulus. Two years later the 
English made war on the Zulus. At first the natives were vic- 
torious ; but after a time they were overcome and Zululand 



598 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE 

was virtually made a British possession. Some years later it 
was formally annexed and joined to Natal. 

541. The Transvaal Revolt. The Boers protested loudly 
against the annexation of their country, but so long as there 
was still danger from the Zulus, they thought it wiser not to 
fight. They also hoped much from Gladstone, who succeeded 
Disraeli as prime minister in 1880. But the Liberal ministry 
War in South was slow in declaring its intentions, and in 1881 
Africa. thg Boers of the Transvaal rose in revolt. The 
Boers were a strong and courageous people, excellent marksmen 
and virile fighters. From the first, victory was on their side. 
At Majuba Hill they inflicted a severe defeat on the English 
arms. The numbers engaged in this famous battle were small : 
but the outcome revealed the startling fact that the Boer rifle- 
man was far superior to the British soldier. The war practi- 
cally ended with this battle : Gladstone felt that the Disraeli 
government had not dealt justly with the Boers, and he decided 
to come to terms with them. England recognized the independ- 
ence of the Transvaal Republic, but with the important pro- 
viso that in making treaties the republic was to consult the 
English government. This assertion of suzerainty on the part 
of England was the cause of much trouble in the next decade. 

542. England in Egypt. The English interest in South 
Africa arose from the fact that Cape Town was an extremely 
The Suez convenient half-way station on the long route to 
Canal. 1869. Xndia. In 1869 the distance to India was made 
several thousand miles shorter by the opening of the Suez 
Canal. This gave the English foreign office a new interest in 
the Orient which became still keener when Disraeli was made 
prime minister in 1874. The Suez Canal was built by a stock 
company in which the khedive, or king, of Egypt was heavily 
interested. The government of Egypt was carried on very 
extravagantly, however, and the khedive's treasury was fre- 
quently on the verge of bankruptcy. In 1875 he sold his shares 
in the Canal to the English government for about $20,000,000. 
But this did little to help the finances of Egypt, and the English 



THE LOSS OF THE SOUDAN 599 

and French bondholders, who were interested in§the Egyptian 

debt, began to make appeals to their respective governments. 

The outcome was that in 1879 the khedive was joint adminis- 

forced to take several English and French officials tratlon of 

Egypt by 
into his cabinet ; these men virtually controlled France and 

the Egyptian government. The plan seemed to En s land - 

work satisfactorily, and Gladstone, when he took office again 

the following year, decided to let the arrangement stand. 

The situation in Egypt was peculiar. The country was a 
kingdom, but it was tributary to the sultan of Turkey, whose 
control, however, had become very ineffective. The actual 
rulers were England and France, whose representatives in the 
cabinet " administered" the country. The condition produced 
much dissatisfaction and led to an uprising in 1881. Arabi Pasha's 
The leader, Arabi Pasha, probably aimed at Egyp- revolt - 
tian independence. The following year an English army put 
down the rebellion ; Arabi Pasha was exiled to Ceylon ; and 
the European officials remained in charge. The same year 
France withdrew from Egypt, and since 1882 England has oc- 
cupied the Nile valley alone. A representative of the English 
government resides in Egypt. His function is to give the khe- 
dive "advice" and to insist that his advice be taken. The 
advice is supported by the presence of a British England in 
army. England has "advised" many reforms and E syP t - 
much has been done to improve conditions in the Nile valley : 
on the whole Egypt has profited much from English control. 

543. The Loss of the Soudan. To the south of Egypt 
and extending far westward along the southern border of the 
Sahara lies a vast, mysterious region called the Soudan. A 
large part of the Soudan had been annexed to Egypt ; but the 
Egyptian government was bad ; the officials plundered the 
half-civilized natives ; and there was much unrest Revolt of the 
on the Upper Nile. In 1882, the year of Arabi Soudanese: 
Pasha's rebellion, a Mohammedan fanatic, who 
called himself the Mahdi, or Messiah, raised the standard of re- 
volt and preached a holy war against the alien oppressors. The 



600 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE 

next year an Egyptian army was cut to pieces by the Mahdi's 
forces ; for the Soudanese (the Fuzzy- Wuzzies of Kipling's 
poem) proved to be very capable soldiers. 

It was Gladstone's plan to surrender the Soudan to the 
Mahdi. There were, however, Egyptian garrisons in the 
country which were hard pressed by the Mahdi's troops ; it 








=SSsiy 






Majuba Hill 



was the first duty of the government to rescue these. General 
General Charles George Gordon, popularly known as "Chi- 

Gordonin nese " Gordon, was sent to Khartoum, the capital 
t e ou an. ^ ^ Soudan, presumably to arrange terms with 
the Mahdi. Gordon had seen much service in half-civilized 
lands and had been governor of the Soudan only a few years 
before. But like the Mahdi he was something of a religious 
fanatic, and he decided to stay in the Soudan till he could end 
the rebellion. His mission failed ; he was shut up in Khar- 
toum by the rebels. After some delay a force was sent out to 
relieve him. It reached Khartoum in January, 1885 ; but two 






CECIL RHODES; DEVELOPMENT OF SOUTH AFRICA 60 1 



days earlier Gordon had been slain by the Soudanese. Eleven 
thousand soldiers and inhabitants of Khartoum were put to 
the sword on the same day. The British force retired, and for 

the next ten years the na- 
tives were left in control 
of the Soudan. 

544. Cecil Rhodes and 
the Development of South 
Africa. The year follow- 
ing the disaster at Khar- 
toum, the attention of the 
English public was once 
more diverted to South 
Africa: in 1886 gold was 
discovered in the southern 
border of the Transvaal. 

Diamo nds „ (] 

Gold and 
had been diamond fields 

found for in South 

Africa, 
nearly twenty 

years in the northern part 
of Cape Colony, and a 
strong tide of immigration had flowed into that section. But 
after gold had been found in the hill ranges of the Rand, the 
stream of European adventurers was turned toward the Trans- 
vaal Republic. In the gold fields there grew up a large and 

important town, Johannesburg, inhabited almost . , 

^ ' J ° . . Johannesburg, 

exclusively by a floating population of aliens who 

had come to seek their fortune in the gold fields. These aliens 

the Boers called "Outlanders." 

Among the immigrants who found their way to South Africa 

in the decade of the seventies came Cecil Rhodes, a young 

Englishman who soon rose to be a leader of the „ .. _. . 
to . Cecil Rhodes. 

British elements in those regions. Cecil Rhodes 

was a keen, far-sighted, and resourceful man, who loved to 

plan and carry out large undertakings. After a time he found 




General Charles George Gordon 



602 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE 

his way into the Kimberley diamond fields, where he amassed a 
great fortune. Later he invested heavily in the gold fields of 
the Rand'. But Cecil Rhodes was also interested in the vast 
interior country lying to the north of the Boer republics. In 
The South l88 9 ne or g a nized the South African Company, 
African the purpose of which was to develop the territories 

north and south of the Zambezi River. The com- 
pany was also given extensive administrative powers over the 




Governor's Palace, Khartoum 

regions in which it was to operate. The South African Com- 
pany brought a large interior province under the 
British flag : this has been called Rhodesia in 
honor of Cecil Rhodes. The presence of the English in Rhode- 
sia caused much irritation in the Boer settlement, as it prevented 
further expansion of the Transvaal Republic to the north and 
the west. 

545. The Imperialism of Joseph Chamberlain. In 1895 
the Liberal party lost its control of the administration and the 
Unionists took charge of the "British government. Lord Salis- 
bury was once more made prime minister and he selected 
Joseph Chamberlain for the office of colonial secretary. 



THE IMPERIALISM OF JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN 603 



Chamberlain was still a radical ; but on two important sub- 
jects his political beliefs appealed to a large ele- 
ment in the Unionist party: (1) he held that the chamberlain 

time had come to abandon free trade and return in * he colomal 

office. 

to some form of a protective tariff; 1 (2) he em- 
phasized the importance 
and value of the British Em- 
pire. So long as England 
was the only "workshop of 
the world," her products 
found markets everywhere; 
but since the days of Cob- 
den and Peel Germany and 
the United States had be- 
come great chamberlain's 
manufacturing theory of 

j protection, 
nations and 

were competing for the mar- 
kets of the world. But more 
than 350,000,000 people live 
under the British flag outside 
the British Isles, and Cham- 
berlain held that England 
should strive to secure the 
colonial markets for British 
products. If England were 
to lay a tax on imported 
goods, he believed it would be wise to establish a a " preferen- 
lower rate on products coming to England from tial tanff -" 
the colonies. This would direct the colonial trade to the mother 
country, and the empire would be bound together by ties of 
economic advantage. 

Chamberlain also held that the empire ought to be made a 
definite political unit. This he hoped to accomplish by some 
form of "imperial federation." 2 He dreamed of an imperial 

t Review sees. 510-512. 2 Cheyney, No 453; Kendall, No. 147. 




Cecil Rhodes 



604 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE 



parliament to be made up of representatives from the United 
imperial Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South 

federation. Africa, and perhaps from other important colo- 
nies. This idea did not 
originate with Joseph Cham- 
berlain, but he became most 
prominently identified with 
it. Imperialism, the belief 
that the colonies are desira- 
ble and even necessary to 
England, is widely held in 
Great Britain. 1 It has even 

„. ,. found a literary 

Kipling. J 

exponent i n 

Rudyard Kipling, whose 

tales and poems deal largely 

with England over the seas 

and with the greatness of the 

British Empire. 2 

546. The Reconquest of 

the Soudan. 1898. Joseph 

Chamberlain also believed 

to the empire 

it was possible. 
Accordingly 
the new minis- 
try resolved to reconquer the 
Soudan. In 1896 a force 
under the command of Gen- 
eral Kitchener began to 
move up the Nile valley. 
The advance was slow, for 
Kitchener built a railroad as he went forward, so as to be sure of 

1 Cheyney, Nos. 454-457; Tuell and Hatch, No. 80. 

2 Typical poems are Fuzzy-Wuzzy, The Sons of the Widow, Gunga Din, The Native 
Born, The Young British Soldier, Pagett, M.P., Mandalay, and Recessional. 



in adding 
wherever 

Kitchener in 
the Soudan. 




The Suez Canal 



THE BOERS AND THE OUTLANDERS 



6o5 



supplies for the campaign. In 1898 he reached the vicinity 
of Khartoum and defeated the successor of the Omdurman. 
Mahdi in a battle near Omdurman on the oppo- 1898 - 

site side of the Nile. This 
defeat virtually ended the 
native control of the Soudan. 
Lord Kitchener was sent 
out by the Egyptian gov- 
ernment, but his forces 
were composed of English 
and Egyptian soldiers. The 
flags of England and Egypt 
were both raised over the 
reconquered strongholds. 
Officially the Joint 
Soudan is held occupation of 
jointly by the the Soudan - 
two countries; but the 
power of the khedive in 
Central Africa is scarcely 
more than a pretense : the 
Soudan is governed by 
British officials and is prop- 
erly counted as belonging 
to the British Empire. 1 
547. The Boers and the Outlanders. The Boers were 
displeased with the advance of Cecil Rhodes and his trading 
company into Rhodesia ; but the invasion of the Rand by the 
European fortune-hunters gave them even more concern. 
They made no attempt to make the gold fields attractive to 
the Outlanders and hoped to make their stay as brief as possible. 
The Outlanders, however, objected to the treat- The griev _ 
ment accorded to them : they were heavily taxed ances of the 
and were forced to do military service, while the 
right to become naturalized citizens was denied . them. As 

1 Kendall, Nos. 149-150. 




Lord Kitchener of Khartoum 



606 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE 

the majority were British subjects, they naturally turned to 
the British government for support. Cecil Rhodes, who was 
prime minister of Cape Colony, sympathized with the Out- 
landers, and Joseph Chamberlain watched events at Johan- 
nesburg with a rising interest. The English 
intervention government finally took up the cause of the 
in behalf of dissatisfied class and asked that the Outlanders 

the aliens. . . 

be allowed to become citizens of the Transvaal. 
The Boers refused : the Outlanders were becoming so numer- 
ous that they would probably outvote the Boers at the elec- 
tions ; their next step doubtless would be to invite annexation 
to the British crown, and the Boers would again become sub- 
ject to a government that they had once fled to escape. 

In the closing days of 1895 an English force under the com- 
mand of Dr. Leander Jameson, one of Cecil Rhodes' officials in 
Rhodesia, crossed the Transvaal frontier and proceeded toward 
The Jameson Johannesburg. The purpose of the " Jameson 
raid. 1895. ra id " was to bring aid and comfort to the Out- 
landers and perhaps to start a revolution in the Transvaal. 
Not far from Johannesburg the invading force was surrounded 
by Boer soldiers and forced to surrender. President Kruger 
of the Transvaal Republic turned the offenders over to the 
British authorities for punishment. Dr. Jameson and twelve 
others were tried in London and given light sentences. 
Several of the leaders of the Outlanders, including a brother 
of Cecil Rhodes, were seized by the Boers and heavily punished. 
The Boers in Cape Colony forced Rhodes to resign his office as 
prime minister. A parliamentary committee was appointed 
to look into the circumstances of the raid. The committee 
found that Cecil Rhodes had guilty knowledge of the move- 
ment. He was censured but not brought to trial. 

The result of the Jameson raid was to produce even more 
bitterness in the Transvaal. The lot of the Outlander was not 
The Boers pre- made easier. The Boers had long been purchas- 
pare to fight. m g SU ppii es f or a war that they felt must come : 
during the years 1896-1898 the preparations were going on 



THE BOER WAR. 1899-1902 607 

at a rapid rate. By 1899 the Transvaal Republic had a splendid 

army of the New Model type : 1 every soldier was a trained 

horseman, an accurate marksman, and a fanatical enemy of 

the British. 

548. The Boer War. 1899- 1902. 2 In October, 1899, in 

the early springtime of the southern hemisphere, the Boers 

were ready to strike. The Orange Free State joined its forces 

to those of the Transvaal and the combined Boer armies poured 

across the frontier into Cape Colony and Natal. The British 

were not prepared for the struggle, and for several 

. . r • 1 1 ti • 11 1 Boer victories, 

months victory was with the Boers in all the 

important engagements. The fiercest fighting was in Natal 
in the neighborhood of Ladysmith, where the Dutch farmers 
shut up a British army and for a time defeated every effort to 
bring relief and raise the siege. England was deeply dis- 
tressed ; but the war had to be fought to a finish and a large 
army numbering 450,000 men was finally collected in South 
Africa. Never before had England called so many men into 
the field. A large part of this vast army was contributed 

by the self-governing colonies. Lord Roberts of 

T / ii 1 1 1 , 1 • 1 m. • • * r 1 Lord Roberts 

Kandahar, who had proved his abilities in Afghan- and Lord 

istan, 3 was placed in command. With him was Kitchener in 

T , T _ . , r -rri i i -i • South Africa. 

Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, who had just con- 
quered the Soudan. The Boer generals Delarey, De Wet, and 
Botha, were second to none in bravery : but they could not 
equal Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener in generalship. The 
war was now carried into Boer territory. Lord Roberts in- 
vaded the Orange Free State and seized its capital. The ad- 
vance then continued into the Transvaal to Johannesburg and 
Pretoria. The two republics were deprived of their Annexation 
independence and their territories were added to of the Boer 
the British Empire. The Boers kept up a desper- re P ublics - 
ate guerilla warfare for nearly two years longer. But the cause 
of Dutch freedom in South Africa was lost; and June 1, 1902, 
the Boer chiefs made peace with England and the war ended. 

1 See sec. 331. 2 Gardiner, 976-978. 3 See sec. 553. 



608 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE 



549. The Commonwealth of Australia. 1901. * During the 
Boer war the second self-governing British colony came into 




being. To the close of the nineteenth century, the colonies of 
Australia, of which there were finally six, remained politically 
distinct. For a long time there was no real need of a union. 
But with the spread of settlement and the development of com- 

1 Review sec. 508. 



THE COMMONWEALTH OE AUSTRALIA. 1901 



609 



merce and industry, problems began to appear that clearly could 
not be solved by the action of a single colony. The movem 
The navigation of rivers that ran through more for Australian 
than one colony had to be regulated. Still more federation - 
important was the regulation of rates and traffic on intercolo- 
nial railways. It was evident that in undertaking to reclaim 
arid lands by irrigation a colony could not always act alone. 




The University, Sydney, Australia 



It was also felt that on many subjects such as tariffs, labor 
disputes, old age pensions, factory control, and alien races, 
there should be uniform legislation throughout the southern 
continent. The movement for a colonial union was constantly 
gaining in strength and after ten years of negotiations an act 
was passed creating the Commonwealth of Australia, the act 
to become effective on the first day of the new century. 

The Australian Commonwealth is a federal union like 
Canada, with the important difference that the states retain 
all the powers not expressly handed over to the Chara f 
common parliament. In this respect it resembles the Common- 
the American system. The use of such terms as wealth * 
states, senate, and house of representatives also recalls the 
constitution of the United States. 



610 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE 

550. The Dominion of New Zealand. 1907. Southeast of 
Australia and more than one thousand miles distant lie the 
twin islands of New Zealand. This colony did not join the 
new Commonwealth, and in 1907 it was allowed to organize a 
third self-governing colony, the Dominion of New Zealand. 
New Zealand is famous throughout the world for its experi- 
ments with certain forms of state socialism. The government 
Socialistic engages in a variety of activities that are usually 
experiments in left to private business : it owns and operates 

ew ea an . ra ^ wa y Sj telegraph and telephone lines, and coal 
mines ; it writes fire insurance and has a system of postal 
savings banks ; it finds work for the unemployed ; it pensions 
the aged. Women have the right to vote. New Zealand is 
in many ways the most democratic state in the world. 

551. The Union of South Africa. 1909. While Mr. Cham- 
berlain continued at the head of the colonial ofhce, the two 
Boer states were governed as crown colonies. But in 1905 
South African tne Liberals returned to power and a new policy 
policy of the was adopted. The Liberal party had never been 

1 era party. en thusiastic for the Boer war ; and a faction, 
sometimes called the " Little Englanders," had bitterly opposed 
it. In 1906 self-government was restored to the people of the 
Transvaal and the following year the Orange Free State was 
granted similar rights. A few months later a movement look- 
ing toward the union of all the South African colonies was set 
on foot. This bore fruit in 1909 when the British parliament 
authorized the formation of the Union of South Africa. 

This Union is composed of the four provinces, Cape of Good 
Hope, Natal, Orange Free State, and Transvaal ; it is not a 
The Union of federation, however, but rather a single unified 
South Africa. s t a te. The provinces exist chiefly for convenience 
in carrying out the laws of the Union. The Union has a 
parliament that meets in Cape Town and an executive govern- 
ment located in Pretoria. The chief executive is a governor- 
general appointed by the crown ; but the actual chief is the 
prime minister. Lord Gladstone, the oldest son of the great 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CANADA 611 

premier, was sent out as the first governor-general. His prime 
minister was General Louis Botha, one of the heroes of the 
Boer War. 

In the South African Union the two languages, Dutch and 
English, have been placed on equal footing. The Dutch ele- 
ment in the population, however, seems to be the The Dutch 
more aggressive, and is likely to become the element in 
controlling force. Rhodesia has refused to join e mon * 
the Union because of the apparent ascendancy of the Boers. 

England has large plans for the economic development of 
her African possessions. One of the most important projects 
is a railway, the Cape to Cairo line, which is to be built from 
Alexandria to Cape Town ; a large part of this The Cape to 
has already been constructed. Under the sure Cairo Railwa y- 
protection of the British flag, the missionary, the engineer, 
and the physician are transforming life in the Dark Continent. 
The resources of the country have been brought to light. Mines 
have been opened. Plantations have been laid out. The 
telegraph and the telephone have been introduced. Progress in 
Roads and bridges have been built. Arid lands Bntlsh Al «ca. 
have been irrigated. The slave traffic has been outlawed. 
Schools and churches have been founded and built. Only the 
beginnings have been made, however, but thus far England 
has been very successful in her civilizing work. 

552. The Development of Canada. 1 When Canada was 
organized as a dominion (1867), it did not include all the 
territories of British America. To the far northwest lay a 
vast wilderness that belonged to the Hudson Bay The expansion 
Company and was thought to be valuable for its of Canada - 
furs only. In 1869 Canada purchased this territory, and 
the following year a part of it was admitted to the Dominion 
as the Province of Manitoba. British Columbia was admitted 
in 187 1, and Prince Edward Island, an old colony The Canadian 
on the Atlantic seaboard, joined the Dominion two Northwest- 
years later. Large areas of the wilderness that once belonged 

1 Review sec. 507. 



6 12 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE 

to the Hudson Bay Company have been found to be extremely 
valuable for farm land purposes. In recent years emigrants 
from the United States have gone north by the thousand to 
settle in the new provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. 
Canadian The development of these regions has been made 

railways. possible by the building of two great railways : 

the Canadian Pacific, which was built across the American con- 




WlNNIPEG IN 1870 



tinent during the eighties, and the Grand Trunk Pacific, which 
runs farther to the north and is still in the process of construc- 
tion. Canada now comprises nine provinces and includes nearly 
all the British possessions on the continent of North America. 

553. Disraeli and the Near East. Nearly all the recent 
developments along colonial and imperial lines can be traced 
back to the second ministry of Benjamin Disraeli (1874-1880). 
Disraeli's Two important achievements have secured a high 

foreign and place for Disraeli in the history of English politics : 
> oma po icy. ^ reorganized the Tories into a Conservative party 
which was to watch over the interests of the people as well 



DISRAELI AND THE NEAR EAST 



613 



as over the rights of the land, the church, and the sovereign; 
he revived the interest of the English people in their terri- 
tories over the sea and taught them that with a large colonial 
empire England could play a larger part as a world power. 
He began to carry out his imperial policy by securing control 
of the Suez Canal (1875). He sought to bind India more 
closely to the British crown by reviving the Empire of India 




Winnipeg in 191 2 

and proclaiming Victoria Empress of India (1877). He took 
a hand in the settlement of the Balkan question at the time 
of the last Russo-Turkish War. He annexed the Transvaal 
(1877) and thought favorably of a federal union for South 
Africa. He found a new field for English energies in Egypt 
(1879). But Disraeli is best known for the interest that 
he showed in the group of countries at the east end of the 
Mediterranean Sea which is commonly called the Near East. 
The Asiatic policy of England was determined largely 
' by a fear that Russia may have designs on her possessions in 
India. Russia has a powerful fleet in the Black Sea which 



6 14 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE 

may some day sail out past Constantinople and seize the Suez 
The fear of Canal. To prevent this England was determined 
Russia in the to keep the Bosporus a closed strait by leaving 
both shores in the hands of the Turk. In 1876 
troubles broke out in Turkey which led to the Russo-Turkish 
War of 1877-1878. The Turks were defeated and made peace 
with Russia. But Disraeli (now Lord Beaconsfield) insisted 
that the Balkan question concerned all Europe and should 
be dealt with by a congress of the European powers. Accord- 
The Congress ingly such a congress met at Berlin under the 
of Berlin. presidency of Bismarck, England being represented 

by Disraeli and Lord Salisbury. The congress secured more 
favorable terms for Turkey. For the friendly assistance of 
England the Turks paid with the important island of Cyprus. 

554. India. England also feared that India might be 
invaded from the northwest by way of Afghanistan. The 
Russian frontier in Turkestan is now less than one hundred 
miles distant from the northern border of British India. It is 
England and therefore a part of English policy to keep Russian 
Afghanistan, influence out of Afghanistan. To accomplish this 
Disraeli in 1878 sent an army against the Afghans. The 
country was overrun, but when Gladstone came to power he 
withdrew the British forces. Afghanistan is still independent 
but under British protection. 

The greater part of India has now been annexed to the 
British crown. A number of independent states still remain, 
but they are independent in name only. To the west of India 
Expansion the Disraeli government extended British author- 
in India. j t y over tne w iiderness of Beloochistan in 1876; 
toward the east the British flag was planted in Burma in 
Salisbury's first ministry (1885). To the divided nations of 
India England has brought peace, order, and great material 
improvement. 1 Much, however, remains to be done. The 
masses are still densely ignorant and miserably poor. Among 
the educated classes, especially among those who have come 

1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 79. 



SUMMARY 615 

into actual contact with western civilization, there is much 
discontent. There is some agitation among the Hindus for 
an independent and self-governing Indian empire; but the 
differences in race, language, religion, and social standing are 
so great and so dividing that British authority is not likely to 
be successfully disputed for some generations to come. 

555. Summary. The closing decades of the nineteenth 
century witnessed a revival of interest in the colonial posses- 
sions of the United Kingdom. It appeared in a mild form in 

Disraeli's second ministry and was called a "spirited 

<•• Tjjr^, 1 . 1 -i Imperialism. 

foreign policy. Iwenty years later it had 

grown into a passion and was called " imperialism." Imperial- 
ism has become an article of faith with the Unionist party, and 
many Liberals too have imperialistic leanings. The greatest 
exponent of the idea was Joseph Chamberlain. Imperialism 
has led to action in many fields, but its greatest achievements 
have been in Africa. 

In Africa large areas have been added to the British Empire. 
Egypt was occupied in 1882. Three years later a British 
trading company entered Nigeria in West Africa. Growth of 
The British East Africa Company began to the British 
operate from Zanzibar and Mombasa westward m P ire - 
and northwestward later in the same decade. Rhodesia 
appeared on the map in the early nineties. General Kitchener 
conquered the Soudan in 1898. The Boer War added the 
Transvaal and the Orange Free State. In Asia British author- 
ity was extended over the larger part of India and over the 
neighboring territories of Burma and Beloochistan. In Aus- 
tralia and America there has been continued progress, but the 
growth has been wholly along peaceful and material lines. 

During the last half century four " colonial nations" have 
been organized within the Empire : Canada, Australia, New 
Zealand, and South Africa. In the management The "colonial 
of their internal affairs these are practically natlons -" 
independent, but they have no foreign office. They are bound 
to England by strong sentimental and commercial ties ; and 



616 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE 

it has recently been proposed to bind them even more closely 
to the mother country by some form of imperial federation. 

REFERENCES 

England in Africa. — Innes, History of England, 841-844, 908-913; Lee, 
Queen Victoria, 572-574; Woodward, Expansion of the British Empire, 280- 
293, 301-308. 

England and Egypt. — Innes, 915-917; Lee, 465-469; Tout, Advanced 
History of Great Britain, 681-684. 

Imperialism and the new protectionism. — Beard, Introduction to the 
English Historians, 624-636 (Hobson: imperialism); Innes, 949-951 (protec- 
tion). 

The reconquest or the Soudan. — Innes, 940-942; Tout, 692-694. 

The Boer republics. — Innes, 930-934; Tout, 724-725; Woodward, 

293-295- 

The Boer War. — Cross, History of England, 1029-1035; Innes, 934-939; 
Lee, 523-528; Tout, 726-727. 

The Commonwealth of Australia. — Beard, 645-662 (Bryce); Master- 
man, History of the British Constitution, 241-243; Woodward, 271-274; Wrong, 
History of the British Nation, 569-574. 

New Zealand. — Woodward, 275-279. 

England in Asia. — Innes, 910-915; Ransome, Advanced History of 
England, 1016-1019; Woodward, 308-311. 



CHAPTER XXIX 
ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 

556. The Problem of the Unemployed. When the Reformed 
Parliament in 1833 began to enact its great series of industrial 
reforms, England was still the workshop of the world. Every 
year her output of manufactured products increased in amount 
and value ; every year her foreign commerce showed greater 
totals. Where there was so much work to be done, it would 
seem that it ought not to be difficult to secure employment. 
There was, however, a tendency among factory owners to 
employ cheap labor : much of the lighter work was done by 
children ; and women were sometimes engaged industrial 
in tasks that were better suited to the strength of P roblems - 
men. Hours were long, and the employer showed little interest 
in the welfare of the laborer. In those days it was believed 
that, if the conditions under which men and women labored 
were improved, all would be well. With shorter hours, with 
the elimination of child labor, and with proper restrictions on 
the labor of women, able-bodied men would surely find suitable 
work, and with employment would come prosperity and con- 
tentment. 

When the nineteenth century came to a close, however, 
England was greatly disturbed by the presence of hundreds of 
thousands of men who were temporarily or per- Causes of 
manently out of work. For this there were unemployment, 
several reasons. In the century that closed with 191 1, the 
population of Great Britain increased more than threefold ; 
but the demand for labor did not show a corresponding increase. 
Since the American Civil War the United States had developed 
into an industrial nation and was now competing with England 

617 



6i8 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 

in the markets of the world. A little later Germany had 
begun to develop in the same direction. Consequently 
there was not the demand for English wares that there once 
had been ; nor is it likely that England will again possess 
the monopoly of the world's trade that she once held. 

It was also coming to be understood that the working classes 
as a rule were unable to provide for the future : the rise in 




London and Westminster 



wages had not kept pace with the cost of living; and elderly 
workingmen were frequently without means and without 
employment. Illness often deprives a laborer of his income 
for a time, and an accident may render him permanently 
unable to work at the trade that he is best prepared to follow. 
Poverty and These and other causes had brought millions to 
the verge of actual want. Charitable men and 
women were doing much to relieve the distress, 
and organizations like the Salvation Army were working 
faithfully in the more impoverished sections of the larger 
cities. But thinking men of all parties had begun to feel that 



measures for 
relief. 



COUNTY MAP OF 

ENGLAND and WALE S 

Scale of Mies 




THE POLITICAL SITUATION 619 

there could be no real improvement before the entire nation 
was willing to bring systematic relief. 

557. The Political Situation. While the Boer War was 
still in progress, the Unionist government had dissolved par- 
liament (1900) and appealed to the country. In the " khaki" 
elections the patriotic British voters rallied about the candi- 
dates who were favorable to the government, and the Unionists 
were returned to the house of commons in over- Attitude of 
whelming majority. Joseph Chamberlain was a the Uni o ni sts. 
power in the Unionist party, and he sympathized actively 
with the cause of social reform ; but most of the leaders of his 
party were more anxious to safeguard the rights of property 
than to vote funds for the relief of the poor. A. J. Balfour, 
who succeeded Lord Salisbury as prime minister in 1903, 
made a feeble move in the direction of reform with three bills 
that were planned to relieve the distress. Two of these failed 
outright and the third was amended to such an extent that it 
became wholly valueless. 

Nor could much be hoped from the Liberal party. Glad- 
stone's great following was thoroughly demoralized. The 
Liberals were not yet in agreement as to Irish Demoralized 
home rule ; but the Boer War had proved an state of the 
even greater source of discord. The radicals * era par y ' 
were bitterly opposed to what they termed "Mr. Chamber- 
lain's War;" the leaders among these "Little Englanders," 
as the Unionists termed them, were John Morley and David 
Lloyd George, a brilliant lawyer and debater who rose to 
great prominence as member of the cabinet a few The " Little 
years later. On the other hand there was an Engenders." 
important group of Liberals who believed in the extension of 
British territory and influence, and who loyally supported the 
government in the prosecution of the war in South Africa. 
Among the leaders of this faction were H. H. Asquith and Sir 
Edward Grey. There was, however, no member The Liberal 
of either house who seemed able to harmonize Im P enahsts - 
these factions and give the Liberal party effective leadership. 



620 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 




The Cabinet Room 
At No. 10 Downing Street. 



THE LABOR PARTY 621 

The Unionist cabinet was not popular in the years following 
the Boer War ; it was continued in power simply because the 
opposition party seemed impossible. 

But when the Balfour ministry failed to carry its program of 
reform, the opportunity came once more to the Liberals. The 
party chiefs agreed to accept the facts and forget the past ; 
they also agreed to take no decided stand on the Irish question, 
but to make a fight for social betterment. Sir Henr 
Henry Campbell-Bannerman, a Scotch member Campbeii- 
of parliament of considerable ability and long Bannerman - 
parliamentary experience, was made leader of the party, and 
the Unionists were attacked 'with vigor both in and out of 
parliament. As nearly all the bye-elections, or special elections 
to fill vacancies in the house of commons, were now going 
against the Unionists, Balfour soon found that 

. 1905. 

his great strength was being materially reduced. 

Toward the close of 1905 he resigned. King Edward promptly 

summoned Campbell-Bannerman to take office as prime 

minister ; and with some changes the cabinet that he organized 

in 1905 is still (1914) in control of the government. 

558. The Labor Party. A general election was held the next 
year in which the Liberals won a sweeping victory. Since 
1832 no political party had returned to parliament The Lib ' eral 
with so great a majority. Out of 670 members victory of 
the Unionists elected only 156. The Irish Home 
Rulers counted 83. But when parliament met, a new party 
made its appearance in the house of commons, a Labor party 
which had elected twenty-nine members and The Labor 
could count on the votes of at least twenty other P art y- 
labor members who were classed as Liberals. 

The new party was an organization of labor unions for 
political action. Since the days of Chartism the unions had 
been relatively harmless bodies down to 1889, when the work- 
ingmen won several important strikes. The most The dock 
important of these was the great dock strike, which stnke of 1889 - 
seriously tied up the shipping of London. This strike was 



622 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 

led by John Burns, a strong and resourceful labor leader, who 
was later given a seat in the Liberal cabinet. After the suc- 
cesses of 1889 the unions became more aggressive, but the 
outcome also led to a reaction among the employing classes. 
It was argued in many quarters that labor organizations were 
in reality corporations which might be held responsible for 
damages to property caused by strikes. In 1901 a suit was 
heard in the house of lords which came to be of great impor- 
tance : the employes of the Taff Vale Railway Company had 
The Taff called a strike and the company had brought 

Vale decision. su j t against the unions to recover damages. The 
law lords decided that the unions were corporations and could 
be held responsible as the Taff Vale Company had contended. 

The Taff Vale decision caused much uneasiness among the 
unions. They could still call strikes, but a strike, even if 
successful, would endanger their funds. Finally the leaders 
decided to organize a separate political party with a view to 
securing legislation favorable to organized labor. The party 
fought its first campaign in 1906, when it contested fifty par- 
liamentary districts. It has since extended its organization 
into other districts and has shown considerable strength, 
especially in the manufacturing centers. 

559. The Reforms of the Liberal Government. 1906-1909. 
One of the earliest measures to be accepted by the new parlia- 
ment was a Trade Disputes Bill, which was intended to secure 
The Trade the l aDor unions against suits for damages in 
Disputes Bill, cases of strikes. As the Unionists had tried to 

1906 

pass a similar measure, the bill did not meet 

with much opposition. 

Parliament also passed two bills of great importance to the 

working classes in general : these were a Workingmen's Com- 

™ ^r , . pensation Act and an Old Age Pensions Law. It 

The Working- ** 6 

men's Com- frequently happens in mines, factories, and other 

pensation Act. industrial plants, that workers meet with accidents 

1906. . 

that result in serious injuries, in dangerous dis- 
eases, and even in death. The Workingmen's Compensation 



THE OPPOSITION OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS 623 

Act makes the employer liable to pay compensation in such 
cases to the injured worker or to his family. This measure 
had also been a part of Balfour's program and met with little 
opposition. 

The Old Age Pensions Act became a law in 1908. The bill 
provided that a pension should be paid to all persons above the 
age of seventy, whose "yearly means as calcu- old-age pen- 
lated under this act do not exceed thirty-one S10ns - 1908 - 
pounds ten shillings" (about $153). Half a million men and 
women were thus made eligible to pensions. The amount 
paid varies from one shilling to five shillings per week according 
to the income of the recipient. The Unionists criticised the 
measure very freely, but only a few voted against it. The 
house of lords accepted it with great reluctance. 

560. The Opposition of the House of Lords. Parliament 
passed several other bills looking toward social betterment. 
A Provision of Meals Act authorized the local school authorities 
to provide meals for hungry school children attending the 
elementary schools. A Trade Boards Act sought to remove 
the worst evils of sweat shop labor by establishing other Liberal 
trade boards with authority to fix minimum wages reforms - 
and to enforce the demand for sanitary conditions in the 
shops. A House and Town Planning Act enabled the local 
authorities to remove unsightly and unsanitary buildings and 
replace them with structures built according to modern de- 
mands and ideas. Some of the more important proposals of 
the government failed to become laws, however : they were 
rejected by the house of lords, where at least four-fifths of the 
membership belong to the Unionist party. 

In 1902 the Unionists had secured the passage of an educa- 
tion bill which gave great offense to the non-conformists. The 

act permitted the local authorities to levy taxes 

r i r * , The Noncon- 

tor the support of private church schools, nearly formists and 

all of which were Anglican foundations. In the the Education 

election of 1906 about 200 non-conformists were 

returned to the house of commons as Liberals, and they 



624 



ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 



demanded such a modification of the education law as should 
relieve them of paying taxes to support Anglican schools. 
The house responded and sent three successive bills to the 
house of lords, but all were rejected. 

In 1906 the cabinet turned its attention to the matter of 
intemperance. A licensing bill was passed, the purpose of 
Failure of which was to reduce the number of dramshops in 
the Licensing the kingdom : it was proposed to abolish 30,000 

Bill 

of these, but to make the process a gradual one 

extending over fourteen years. Both the great parties were 

pledged to the principle of this reform ; but when the bill 

reached the house of lords it was promptly rejected. 

A third important measure that the lords threw out was 

the plural voting bill. An English voter may cast a ballot in 

every parliamen- 
Plural voting. 

tary district where 

he has property interests. The 

fact that all districts do not 

vote on the same day, the elec- 
tion extending over nearly two 

weeks, makes it possible for 

wealthy men to vote in many 

places; it is said that in 191 1 

there were men who voted 

seventeen times. As most of 

the wealthy men are Unionists, 

that party benefits most from 

plural voting. 

661. The Lloyd George 

Budget. 1909. The disagree- 
ment between the two houses 

threatened to become serious in 1909, when Lloyd George pre- 
sented the budget of that year. A budget is a 

The budget. r , . 8 , , / ,, 6 , . 

careful estimate 01 the probable expenses 01 the 

government for the year to come, with a plan of taxation 

which the chancellor of the exchequer believes will yield suf- 




David Lloyd George 



THE ELECTION OF 1910 625 

ficient revenue to meet these expenses. Lloyd George proposed 
to make use of different forms of taxation ; but what interested 
the nation most was his plan for taxing the land : he proposed 
to confiscate a part of the "unearned increment." The 
In many places land had risen greatly in value "unearned 
through no effort of owner or tenant, but because increment - 
important improvements had been made on neighboring prop- 
erties ; this increase is called the unearned increment. It was 
Lloyd George's plan to have all the land valued every ten 
years, and if any lot, farm, or estate was found to have increased 
in value during the decade, the state was to take one-fifth of 
this increase. 

The new budget met bitter and determined opposition in the 
house of commons, and the lords were encouraged to refuse 

their assent. It had long been held in England 

11 11 , The lords 

that the commons should control the matter of and the 

taxation ; but the Unionists professed to believe Lloyd Geor s e 

that this proposal was more than a money bill. 

The lords, however, did not dare to reject the bill outright, 

but resolved that it should not pass before it had been referred 

to the people at a general election. 

562. The Election of 1910. H. H. Asquith, who had become 
prime minister in 1908, accepted the challenge and called new 
elections. In the campaign that followed the voters had 
four great issues before them. (1) Most prominent The issues 
was the question whether the lords should be of 191 °- 
allowed to interfere with money bills. (2) The electors were 
also asked to approve or disapprove the new budget. (3) As 
an alternative the Unionists proposed a protective tariff, which, 
they argued, would revive industry, bring employment to the 
workingmen, and provide money for old age pensions. (4) There 
was also much discussion whether the Liberal policy of social 
reform should be continued. A fifth issue was the question of 
Irish home rule, but this issue was not made prominent. 

The result of the election was a disappointment to both 
parties ; neither was given a majority. The Liberals elected 



626 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 

274 members and the Unionists 272. Ireland returned 82 
Home Rulers, and the Labor party increased its membership 
to 41. It became evident that no party could remain long 
in power without the support* of the Irish members. An 




The Election of 1906 



The Election or January, 1910 



The strength of the Liberal and Unionist parties before and after the first election 
of iqio. The blackened portions indicate the districts carried by the Unionists. 
Courtesy of Review of Reviews. 

understanding was reached among the three groups that 
The anti- opposed the Unionists, and for some years Asquith 

Unionist • was the chief of a political alliance rather than of 
a party. 1 In his management of this alliance 
he displayed remarkable abilities as a political leader. The 
election settled the dispute over the budget; the lords sub- 
mitted and the bill became a law. 

563. The Parliament Act of 19 ll. 2 The experience of the 
Asquith parliament had convinced a large part of the nation 
that the house of lords now represented, not the kingdom as a 
whole, but a party and a class. There arose, therefore, an 
insistent demand for legislation that would "curb" the power 
of the lords. The feeling that the upper house ought to be 

1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 82. 2 Ibid., No. 77. 



THE PARLIAMENT ACT OF 1911 



627 



representative of all classes, creeds, parties, and interests was 
shared by the Unionists as well as by the Liberals ; The Asquith 
but as to plans and methods there was hopeless P r °P° sal s. 
disagreement. The Asquith ministry decided to begin by 
reducing the power of the 
upper chamber and pre- 
pared a bill comprising 
three chief points. (1) The 
house of lords was to be 
definitely deprived of all 
power over money bills. 

(2) The lords were to be 
allowed to delay legislation 
by rejecting a bill twice ; 
but a bill passed three 
times by the house of com- 
mons in three different 
sessions of the same parlia- 
ment was to become a law, 
if the commons insisted, no 
matter what action was 
taken in the upper house. 

(3) The maximum life of 
a parliament was to be re- 
duced from seven to five 
years. 




H. H. Asquith 



George V. 



Before the debate on the Asquith proposals had fairly begun, 
King Edward died and was succeeded by his son George V. 
The events connected with the succession and the 
feeling that the new king ought not to be plunged 
immediately into a controversy over the constitution naturally 
delayed action, and the discussion in parliament was not 
resumed before the following autumn. The house of lords now 
presented a plan for which Lord Lansdowne, the Unionist 
leader in the upper house, was the sponsor. Lord Lansdowne 
proposed that when the houses disagreed the question should 



628 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 



be settled in a joint session ; and if the matter was one of un- 
usual importance, it should be referred to the people. The 
Liberals could not accept a proposal for a joint session in which 
they would probably be 
outvoted in every case, 
and the prime minister dis- 
solved parliament. In the 
election that followed the 
parties returned to the 
house of commons with al- 
most the same strength that 
they had held since the elec- 
tion earlier in the year. 
The election was fought on 
" Curbing the the single issue 
lords." f "curbing 

the lords." After their de- 
feat the lords reluctantly 
allowed the Asquith bill to 
become a law, though not 
before the prime minister 
had informed the Unionist 
leaders that the king would 

be asked, if necessary, to create a sufficient number of Liberal 
peers to produce a majority for the measure. 

564. National Insurance. The government now proceeded 
with an elaborate scheme for the insurance of workingmen 
against unemployment caused by sickness or accident. It was 
proposed to create a large insurance fund, nearly half of which 
was to be contributed by the workingmen and the remainder by 
the employers and the government. Insurance against sickness 
Compulsory was *-° be compulsory for all workingmen whose 
yearly income was less than $130. Others with 
higher incomes were permitted to share in the plan 
if they wished. In certain trades insurance was to be compul- 
sory without reference to income. The Unionists did not take 




George V 



insurance 
1911. 



NATIONAL INSURANCE 629 

kindly to the insurance bill but offered little active opposition. 
There was much criticism at first among the workingmen, many 
of whom did not enjoy the idea of having to contribute to the 
insurance fund. It is likely, however, that the national insur- 
ance act will prove to be a measure of great importance. 

The movement for social betterment through compensation, 
pensions, and insurance was not new in England. For some 
time the kingdom had had a law granting conipensation to 
laborers who might be injured in certain forms of employment ; 
this law, however, had proved of little value. Nor was it 
a specifically English movement. Thirty years Social 

earlier (1883-1884) the German Empire had begun insurance in 

, . . Germany, 

to experiment with national insurance against 

accident and illness ; old-age insurance came a few years later. 

Since then nearly all the nations of Europe have followed the 

example of Germany ; but in no country has the principle of 

state assistance been applied more extensively than in Great 

Britain. In Germany the funds for pensions and insurance 

benefits are contributed almost wholly by the employers and 

the workingmen ; while in England the state contributes all 

the money for old-age pensions and a considerable part of the 

fund for insurance against sickness and invalidity. 

565. The Payment of Members of Parliament. The 

members of the house of commons were originally paid by the 

counties or boroughs that they represented; but during the 

Stuart period so many capable men seemed willing to serve in 

parliament without remuneration that the practice of paying 

members died out. During the past half-century, however, 

many of the less wealthy representatives have been paid out of 

the campaign funds of the parties to which they belonged. The 

Irish members were supported largely by the contributions of 

Irish Americans. The laborites were paid out of the funds of 

the unions. Finally one Osborne, a railway em- The Osborne 

ploye in London, brought suit against a labor union J ud s ment - 

to prevent it fro/n using its funds for political purposes. The 

case was taken to the house of lords, and the law lords sustained 



630 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 

Osborne's contention (1909). This was a severe blow to the 
Payment of l aDor party, as its representatives could not afford 
members. to serve in parliament without financial aid in some 

form. To break the force of the Osborne judg- 
ment, parliament passed a bill for the payment of members, 
the salary being fixed at £400 per year (191 1). 

566. Disestablishment of the Anglican Church in Wales. 
After the passage of the Parliament Act, the government laid 
three important measures before parliament : one to give home 
rule to Ireland ; a second to disestablish the Anglican church 
in Wales ; and a third to abolish plural voting. The first bill 
to pass under the provisions of the Parliament Act was the 
Welsh Disestablishment Bill. The case of Wales was in many 
ways parallel to that of Ireland half a century earlier : in both 
Welsh dis- countries the Anglicans were a minority only ; 
establishment. k ut ^ e n0 n-Anglicans were taxed for the support 
of the established church as well. There was this difference, 
however : the Welshmen were not Catholics but noncon- 
formist Protestants ; and there was no separate Welsh church : 
ecclesiastically Wales was a part of the province of Canterbury. 
The attack on the church in Wales was therefore regarded by 
many as an attack on the church of England. Lloyd George, 
as a Welshman and Baptist, was keenly interested in this 
measure. By the terms of the bill the Welsh bishops were to 
lose their seats in the house of lords ; the Anglican church in 
Wales and Monmouthshire was no longer to be supported by 
the state or to be dependent on the government ; the church 
was also to forfeit some of its older endowments, which the 
Liberals held had been given to the Welsh people rather than 
to the church and which they proposed to use to 
promote education and for other public purposes. 
In May, 1914, the bill passed the house of commons for the 
third time, and in September it received the royal sanction. 
Owing to the European war, however, it was thought best not 
to insist on its immediate enforcement, and a law was passed 
suspending its application for one year. 



THE THIRD HOME RULE BILL 631 

567. The Third Home Rule Bill. A week after the 
passage of the Welsh Disestablishment Bill the second great 
measure passed the commons for the third time and was sent 
to the upper house. It had long been evident that the Liberal 
party would soon be forced to deal with the problem of a sep- 
arate government for Ireland. The Asquith bill provided for 
an Irish parliament composed of a senate appointed by the 
government and a lower house elected by the people. This 
parliament was to be entrusted with a limited Asquith > s 
field of legislation covering affairs that were wholly Home Rule 
Irish. In certain other respects, too, the authority x ' 
of the new legislature was limited : for one thing, it was for- 
bidden to establish or give favor to any form of religious worship. 
Matters of wider importance, such as military and naval forces, 
peace and war, diplomacy and the commerce of the kingdom, 
were reserved to the parliament at Westminster, in which 
Ireland was to have a representation of 42 members with power 
to vote on imperial questions only. 

The announcement that Ireland was to be given home rule 
was not favorably received by the Protestants of Ulster. Under 
the leadership of Sir Edward Carson they prepared to resist, 
expressing their determination to remain direct The opposition 
subjects of the English king. A covenant was in Ulster - 
drawn up and signed by thousands, the signers pledging them- 
selves to resist the new government. An army of volunteers 
was organized and drilled by former officers of the English army. 
In 1 9 14 the Irish Nationalists, too, began to arm 
and drill, and for a time it looked as if the passage 
of the bill would be a signal for civil war. 

The province of Ulster comprises nine counties, of which the 
four northeastern are populated chiefly by descendants of the 
Scotch and English immigrants who settled the Ulster planta- 
tion in the days of James I. Four-fifths of the The province 
population of the province lives in these counties, of Ulster - 
which are overwhelmingly Protestant. Two other counties 
are almost evenly divided between the two religions, though the 



632 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 

Catholics may be slightly more numerous. The remaining 
three are strongly Catholic. Asquith was willing to exclude 
the four Protestant counties from the restored Ireland for six 
years, but this did not wholly satisfy the JJlstermen : some 
demanded that the six counties of the plantation be excluded, 
while others wished to exclude the entire province. European 
troubles, however, forestalled the threatened uprising, and the 
bill received the royal signature ; though in this case, too, it was 
thought wiser to suspend the enforcement of the act for a year. 
568. The Triple Alliance. The movement for social and 
constitutional changes was suddenly checked in 19 14 by the 
outbreak of the great European war of that year. This was a 
terrific struggle between two groups of allied powers, Germany 
and Austria on one side and the so-called Triple Entente with 
its allies on the other. In 1879 the emperors of Germany and 
Austro-Hungary formed a close defensive alliance 

1883 

which was joined by the king of Italy in 1883. 
This was the Triple Alliance, which was renewed from time to 
time, and for thirty years was a powerful factor in European 
diplomacy. The motives that led to the formation of this 
Germany and alliance were fear and jealousy of France and 
France. Russia. Germany feared that France would seek 

an early opportunity to take revenge for the humiliating defeat 
of her armies in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-187 1) and 
the consequent loss of Alsace and Lorraine. Italy was led to 
join the alliance by a feeling of resentment toward France : 
in 1 88 1 the French had seized Tunis which Italy had hoped to 
acquire as a colonial dominion. The fear of Russia dates from 
the Congress of Berlin at the close of the war between Russia 
and Turkey (1877-1878). In this congress Germany sided 
The Balkan with Austria against Russia, and the Russians have 
problem. since felt that they were robbed of the fruits of 

victory. Austria has hoped to extend her territories from 
Bosnia southward to the ^gean Sea. But the Balkan Penin- 
sula is inhabited chiefly by peoples of Slavic race, and Russia 
as the greatest Slavic power regards herself as the natural 



THE DUAL ALLIANCE AND THE TRIPLE ENTENTE 633 

protector of the Balkan states. Germany has long been in- 
terested in the commercial possibilities of the Turkish Empire, — 
in markets, in railway building, and in the investment of 
German capital. This interest is not regarded with favor by 
the Russians. The Germans, therefore, look upon Russia as 
an obstacle to their ambitions in the Near East. 

569. The Dual Alliance and the Triple Entente. The 
professed purpose of the Triple Alliance was to preserve the 
peace of Europe. The Alliance, and especially Germany, also 
stood for what is known as " armed peace," which "Armed 
means maintaining an army so strong that one's P eace -" 
neighbors will not dare to make an attack. France and Russia 
naturally regarded the Triple Alliance as a threat, and some 
years later (1891) proceeded to form a Dual The Dual 
Alliance for their own protection. Thus nearly Alliance, 
all the great powers of Europe were enrolled in 
one of these two hostile groups. England alone remained out- 
side and alone, though for some time her statesmen, fearing 
that Russia had designs on India, were inclined to give their 
favor to Germany. 

But before the nineteenth century closed, a keen commercial 
rivalry had arisen between England and Germany, which to a 
large extent had destroyed the old feeling of friendship. After 
the war with France, Germany entered upon a Rivalry of 
period of wonderful industrial development, and England and 
soon her factories were producing not only suf- erman y- 
ficient for the needs of the empire in many lines, but a surplus, 
which her merchants sought to sell in the markets of the world. 
To a large extent these markets were controlled by English 
traders, and Germany found it difficult to dispose of her wares. 
She succeeded to some extent, however, with the result that a 
keen feeling of resentment arose in both England and Germany. 
The Germans were displeased because they felt that they were 
not getting their full share of the world's trade; the English 
were irritated because they saw that a considerable part of their 
commerce had slipped away to the Germans and that even 



634 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 

more might be lost in the future. Germany also found in 
England the chief obstacle to her ambitions of colonial expansion 
in various parts of the world, notably in Africa. 

The German Empire had also become the leading military 
power of Europe. Her army was the best drilled and equipped 

Military m a ^ tne wor ^ 5 m tne ear ly years of the present 

ambitions century she also displayed an ambition to have 

o ermany. a powerful navy. It has long been a commonplace 
that England is "mistress of the seas ;" but to remain mistress 
she has long felt it necessary to maintain a fleet equal in strength 
and efficiency to any two other navies, or one that is at least 
sixty per cent more efficient than the fleet of her strongest rival. 
The activities of the Germans in building and buying warships 
now forced the English to strengthen a naval establishment 
that was already large and expensive. If Germany built five 
"dreadnoughts," England had to build eight. The result 
was that the anti-German feeling was intensified. 

This resentment soon developed into a fear of German 
aggression that found expression in various ways. Lord 
Roberts, the victor of the Boer War, led a movement looking 
toward the creation of a large standing army and the adoption 
of some form of compulsory military service. On the diplo- 
matic side an understanding was reached with France, which, 
while not a formal alliance, served to notify the world that the 
sympathies of England were now with France rather than with 
The Anglo- Germany. Two years earlier (1902) England had 
Japanese entered into a defensive alliance with Japan, 

the purpose of which was to safeguard the interests 
of the British Empire in the Far East. This alliance made it 
somewhat difficult to approach Russia, for in 1904, the year of 
the new understanding with France, Russia suffered a humiliat- 
ing defeat in her great war with Japan. Notwithstanding this 
The Triple fact, however, Sir Edward Grey was able to come 
Entente. to terms with the Russian foreign office, and the 

new group of friendly powers, England, France, and Russia, 
came to be known as the Triple Entente. 



THE GREAT EUROPEAN WAR. 1914 635 

570. The Great European War. 1914. For a time it 
seemed as if this grouping of the powers into the Triple Alliance 
and the Triple Entente had created a balance of power in 
Europe and would actually secure a lasting peace. But in 
June, 1914, an event occurred which was to prove the inef- 
fectiveness of European diplomacy and the dangers of armed 
peace. The heir apparent to the Austro-Hun- The crime 
garian monarchy was assassinated while at Sera- of Sera i evo - 
jevo, the capital of Bosnia. The Austrians believed that the 
crime could be traced to an organization with its headquarters 
in Servia, the purpose of which was to work for a Greater Servia. 
They demanded the suppression of this movement and the 
punishment of various Servians whom they declared to be in- 
volved in it, but the promises of Servia were not wholly satis- 
factory to Austria, who immediately declared war. Europe at 
Germany supported Austria, but Italy at first war - 1914 - 
remained neutral, as she considered herself bound to assist 
her allies only when engaged in a defensive war. Russia, as the 
protector of the Slavs, gave active support to Servia. France, 
as a member of the Dual Alliance, was drawn into the war on 
the Russian side. The English government appeared at first 
to be undecided how far to take sides in the conflict ; but when 
the Germans invaded France by way of Belgium, whose neu- 
trality was guaranteed by international treaty and was of great 
importance for English interests in the North Sea, the United 
Kingdom decided to join her forces to those of the Dual Alliance. 
A month after the crime of Serajevo eight European nations were 
engaged in the most terrible conflict of all history : England, 
France, Russia, Belgium, Servia, and Montenegro were at war 
with Germany and Austria. In the Far East Japan soon de- 
prived the Germans of their foothold in China ; in the Near East 
Turkey joined Germany and Austria in an attack upon Russia; 
while Italy finally went to war with Austria for the Italian-speak- 
ing lands in the Alps and on the Adriatic. The conflict also in- 
volved the colonies and possessions of European powers in all 
parts of the world. On the British side the war was imperial 



636 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 

in character, as appeared from the enlistment of large contingents 
of troops from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and India. 

571. Problems of Modern England. The keynote of Brit- 
ish politics in the twentieth century has been social reform. 
Summary Since tne victory of the Liberals in 1906, parliament 

of social has striven to enact a series of laws looking toward 

the betterment of social conditions. Among the 
bills passed the laws providing for workingmen's compensa- 
tion, old age pensions, and compulsory insurance for the very 
poor may be counted as the most important. Of great 
significance, too, is the budget of 19 10, not only because it 
announced a new principle of taxation, but because it led to the 
Constitutional passage of the Parliament Act of 191 1, by which 
problems. t j ie p 0wer f the house of lords to block legislation 

was taken away. Since 191 1 the energies of the house of 
commons have been given chiefly to constitutional problems 
with the Irish question in the foreground. 

There remain, however, a large number of social and political 
questions that future parliaments will have to consider. Since 
Industrial 1 83 2, the government of England has developed 

democracy. rapidly toward democracy, or government by the 
people. In industry, however, there is no democracy : the 
control of the factory, the mine, or other business is in the hands 
of the owner, whether this be a single capitalist, a firm, or a 
. corporation. It is the purpose of the Socialist 

party, the Labor party in England, to make in- 
dustry democratic by placing the control in the hands of the 
workmen directly interested or in society itself. Whether this 
purpose is practical or even possible remains to be seen. 

Of the highest importance is the problem of education. 
Government by the people is possible only where education is 
general and all classes enjoy the benefits of intel- 
lectual training. The statesmen of England have 
long realized that the problem of elementary schools is one that 
lies at the very roots of national life. The English' schools, 
however, are not in a satisfactory condition. The problem is 



PROBLEMS OF MODERN ENGLAND 637 

still complicated by the ancient rights and the modern claims 
of the established church ; and an immediate solution is not 
likely to be found. 

Closely associated with the movement for better elementary 
instruction is the growing interest in child welfare. There was 
a time when it was feared that the kingdom would _..„. 

i r 1 -ill Child welfare. 

become overpopulated ; that fear has yielded to 
another : that the population may soon begin to decline. Fam- 
ilies are smaller now than they were a century ago. It has come 
to be understood that if England is to keep her high place in the 
world, the children must be cared for and enabled to grow up 
into healthy and intelligent men and women. The law enabling 
school authorities to provide meals for underfed school children 
is a move in this direction ; but there is a growing demand for 
further legislation along this line. 

A movement that has recently attracted much attention is 
that of " Feminism," the purpose of which is to secure for women 
the same opportunities as those enjoyed by men . . n 

and also the same rewards for equal work. As 
the first point in their program, the Feminists demand that 
women shall be allowed to vote in parliamentary elections ; 
they have for some time possessed the right to vote in local 
elections. Various organizations have been working toward 
this end ; but a certain group known as the " Militants " has been 
especially strenuous in the demand for "votes for women." 
For several years the Militants even carried on a sort of warfare 
against the government for its failure to press a suffrage bill. 
When the European war broke out, the leaders declared a truce, 
but the conflict is likely to break out again when the peace of 
Europe is restored. 

The granting of home rule to Ireland is likely to give impetus 
to a movement for a federated kingdom for which Sir Edward 
Grey is the chief sponsor. There is a strong British 
nationalistic current in Wales, and the Scotch federatlon - 
members of parliament have recently been at work on a home 
rule bill for Scotland. England, however, does not seem to 



638 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 

have been converted to the principle of federation. The 
house of lords offers another constitutional problem. There 
seems to be a wide-spread feeling that the possession of an 
inherited peerage ought not to be the only qualification for a 
seat in the upper house. The Liberal chiefs are pledged to a 
further reform of the house of lords, but no plan acceptable 
to the nation has thus far been proposed. 

Chamberlain's twin theories of imperialism and protection 
are among the older ideas that have not yet been realized. It 
imperial would seem that the British Empire really stands 

federation. j n neec j f a m0 re effective form of organization ; 
but Chamberlain's proposal has not fourid genuine favor in 
the great colonial nations, and the cause of imperial federation 
has made but little recent progress. The Unionist party is 
committed to protection ; but the details of a new tariff will 
be difficult to work out, for the party is divided on the question 
A protective of a tax on wheat and other food products. The 
tariff. English farmer will have nothing to do with a 

tariff that does not tax foreign wheat, while the Lancashire 
workingman is not likely to support a scheme that will probably 
raise the price of bread. 

Although the demand for social and constitutional legislation 
has been prominent in English politics during the present cen- 
tury, it has not been the only great interest. The English people 
have shown a real concern for the welfare of the British Empire 
and have insisted that the prestige of Great Britain as a world- 
England and power must be maintained. It was this interest 
the empire. that dictated the terms of the alliance with Japan 
and induced the Liberal cabinet to. enter the Triple Entente 
with autocratic Russia. The movement for a closer organiza- 
tion of the empire has sprung from the same interest. The 
opposition of the Unionists to home rule for Ireland was largely 
based on the feeling that to establish an Irish parliament would 
mean to loosen the bonds that hold the empire together. Al- 
though England justifies her entry into the European conflict 
as an effort to maintain the neutrality of Belgium, it cannot be 




GOLDSCHM'DT It HAMPEL 



PROBLEMS OF MODERN ENGLAND 639 

doubted that fear for the future of the empire was a leading 
motive. And it is not strange that the English people should 
be determined to keep intact an empire, which in extent, in 
population, in commerce, in resources, and in political influence 
is still the greatest power in the world. 

REFERENCES 

Cross, History of England, c. lvii. 

Hayes, British Social Politics (made up chiefly of parliamentary acts and ex- 
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Ogg, Social Progress in Contemporary Europe, 265-279. 



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Ashley, W. J. Edward III and his Wars. London, 1887. Nutt. (English 

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Barnard, F. P. Strongbox's Conquest of Ireland. London, 1888. (English 

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Creighton, M. Age of Elizabeth. New York, 1888. Longmans. $.80. 
Creighton, M. Cardinal Wolsey. New York, 1903. Macmillan. (Twelve 

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Cross, A. L. A History of England and Greater Britain. New York, 1914. 

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Edwards, O. M. The Story of Wales. New York, 1902. Putnams. $1.50. 
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Gairdner, J. Henry VII. London, 1889. Macmillan. (Twelve English 

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Gardiner, S. R. Student's History of England. London, 1906. Longmans. 

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641 



642 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

George, H. B. The Relations of Geography and History. Oxford, 19 10. Clar- 
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Green, Mrs. J. R. Henry II. New York, 1892. Macmillan. (Twelve Eng- 
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Green, W. D. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. New York, 1901. Putnams. 
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Harrison, F. Chatham. New York, 1905. Macmillan. $1.25. 

Harrison, F. Oliver Cromwell. New York, 1888. Macmillan. (Twelve Eng- 
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Hayes, Carlton. British Social Politics. Boston, [1913]. Ginn. $1.75. 

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Innes, A. D. England's Industrial Development. London, 191 2. Macmillan. 
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Innes, A. D. History of England. London, 1913. Putnams. $3.50. 

Innes, A. D. Source Book of English History. 2 vols. Cambridge, 191 2- 
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Jacobs, Joseph. The J eivs of Angevin England. London, 1893. 4s. 

Jenks, Edward. Edward Plantagenet. New York, 1912. Putnams. (Heroes.) 
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Jenks, Edward. Parliamentary England. New York, 1903. (Putnams.) 
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Jessopp, A. The Coming of the Friars. New York. Putnams. $1.25. 

Johnston, Charles, and Carita Spencer. Ireland's Story. Boston, 1905. 
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Kendall, Elizabeth K. Source Book of English History. New York, 1908. 
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Kingsford, C. L. Henry V. New York, 190 1. Putnams. (Heroes.) $1.50. 

Lang, Andrew. A Short History of Scotland. New York, 1912. Dodd, Mead 
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Larson, Laurence M. Canute the Great. New York, 191 2. Putnams. 
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Lawless, E. The Story of Ireland. New York, 1888. Putnams. $1.50. 

Lee, Sidney. Queen Victoria. New York, 1903. Macmillan. $2.25. 

Maccunn, Florence. Alary Stuart. New York, 1907. Dutton. $2.00. 

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Masterman, J. H. B. A History of the British Constitution. London, 1912. 
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INDEX 



Absalom and Achitophel, 392, 397 

Absolutism in Europe, 387 

Acadia, 426 

Acts, see Statutes 

Addison, Joseph, 431, 432, 435 

Admiralty, 439 

Afghanistan, 607, 614 

Africa, England in, 596 ff.; progress 

in, 611 
Agincourt, battle of, 188-189, 195 
Agricola, 6, 8 
Agriculture, medieval, 11-15, 504; 

development of, 420; revolution in, 

504-506, 535 
Aix la Chapelle, treaty of, 456, 458- 

459 
"Alabama," the, 573 
Albert, prince consort, 552-553 
Alberta, 612 
Alcuin, 22 
Alexander III, king of Scotland, 136, 

139 

Alfred, and the Danes, 29-30; as 
law-giver and statesman, 30, 77; 
interest of, in literature, 30-31, 38; 
death of, 31; character of, 31-32 

Alien officials, opposition to, n 2-1 13 

Allen, William, 285, 318 

America, European interest in, 295 
ff.; early settlements in, 306-307, 
338; colonial expansion in, 340, 
379, 380-381, 394, 415; migration 
to, in the eighteenth century, 431, 
448-449, 480-481, 483; problems 
of organization and defense of, 
460-461, 474 ff.; resistance of, to 
England, 476 ff.; revolt of, 479 ff.; 
second war with, 527 ff.; civil war 
in, 573-574; industrial development 
in, 617 

American Revolution, outbreak of, 
479; causes of, 479-484; course of, 
485 ff.; results of, 488-490 

Amherst, General, 464, 465 



Amiens, mise of, 115 

Amiens, peace of, 523 

Andros, Sir Edmund, 400, 414 

Angevin empire, 77—78 

Anglo- Japanese alliance, 634, 638 

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 31, 124 

Anglo-Saxons, invasions of, 9-10; 
civilization of, 10-14, 20; literature 
of, 13, 30-31, 123-124; church of, 
15 ff., 64; political system of, 37- 
39, 71; nobility of, destroyed, 54 

Anglo-Scandinavian empire, 43-44 

Annates, 231, 243 

Anne, queen of England, 409-410, 
422, 423, 424-425, 433-435 

Anne Boleyn, 237, 243, 245, 251, 265, 
272 

Anne of Cleves, 252 

Anne Hyde, wife of James, duke of 
York, 401 

Anselm, 69-70, 81, 109 

Anson, Admiral, 456 

Anti-Corn-Law League, 562-563 

Aquitaine, 78, 114, 153, 155; see 
Gascony 

Arabi Pasha, revolt of, 599 

Architecture, early English, 129; of 
the Restoration, 392 

Arcot, 460, 466 

Arkwright, Richard, 501 

Armada, defeat of the, 287-291, 313 

Armagnacs, 188 

Armies, medieval, 163-164 

Arminianism, 329, 331 

Arthur, son of Henry VII, 220, 237 

Ashington, battle of, 43 

Asquith, H. H., political leader, 590, 
619; introduces bill to abolish the 
lords' veto, 627-628; proposes to 
give Ireland home rule, 631-632 

Assiento, the, 427 

Assizes, 77, 90, 92 

Association, the, 286 

Augsburg, League of, 418 



645 



646 



INDEX 



Austerlitz, battle of, 525, 526 
Australia, settled and organized, 509, 

560, 574; resources of, 561, 566; 

Commonwealth of, 608-609, 615 
Austria, 635 
Austrian Succession, war of the, 453, 

455-458, 469 
Avignon, popes of, 152, 165, 166, 229 
Avranches, conference of, 88 

Babington's plot, 286 
Bacon, Francis, 300, 303, 322 
Bstcon, Nicholas, 275 
/(/Bacon, Roger, 118, 128, 131 
Balance of power, theory of the, 225, 

234 
Balfour, A. J., 588, 594, 619, 623 
Balkans, problem of the, 621, 632-633 
Ball, John, 174 
Balliol College, 128 
Balliol, John, 13-8-140 
Baltimore, Lord, see Calvert 
Bank of England, 419, 435 
Bannockburn, battle of, 144-145 
Baptist movement, the, 358, 368 
Barbados, the, 370, 474, 487 
Barons' War, 115-116, 133 
Bate's case, 320 

Becket, Thomas, chancellor and arch- 
bishop, 80-81; quarrels with Henry 
II, 83-85, 86; murder of, 84; 
shrine of, 178, 230 
Bede, 21-22 

Bedford, duke of, Whig leader, 473 
Bedford, John, duke of, 189-190 
Belgium, 516, 532, 635, 638 
Beloochistan, 614, 615 
Benedictine Rule, 18, 39-40 
Benefit of clergy, 82, 85 
Benevolences, 210-211, 218-219 
Bengal, 459, 466 
Beowulf, 20 

Berkeley, George, 431-433, 446 
Berlin, congress of, 614, 632 
Bertha, queen of Kent, 15 
Bible, the, 250; authorized version 

of, 318; Douai, 318 
Billeting, 327 
Bills of attainder, 199 
Bilney, Thomas, 232-233, 250 
Bishops' wars, the, 343, 345-346, 

349, 352 
Black Death, the, 153, 169, 177 
Black Hole, tragedy of the, 466 



Blake, Robert, 366, 369-370 

Blenheim, battle of, 426, 428 

Bliicher, General, 532 

Boccaccio, 177 

Boers, the, 596-597, 605 ff. 

Boer wars, 598, 607, 619 

Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy 

3i 

Bolingbroke, see St. John 

Bombay, 381, 459 

Boniface VIII, 141, 229 

Boniface of Savoy, 120 

Bonner, Bishop, 262, 264 

Boroughs, Old English, 35; Norman, 
61; government of, in later middle 
ages, 162; corporations of, re- 
formed, 545-546 

Boscawen, Admiral, 464, 465 

Boston, 341, 400, 479, 485 

"Boston Massacre," 476 

"Boston Tea Party," 477 

Bosworth, battle of, 212, 215 

Botha, General, 607, 611 

Bothwell, earl of, 282 

Bourbon family compact, 456, 468 

Bouvines, battle of, 103 

Boycott, Captain, 584 

Boyne, battle of; 413 

Bracton, Henry, 121, 131 

Braddock, General, 462 

Bretigny, treaty of, 153, 202 

Bridgewater, earl of, 503 

Bright, John, 563, 566, 574, 589 

Brindley, James, 503 

British Columbia, 611 

British East African Company, 615 

British Empire, beginnings of, 291, 
307, 308; growth of, 370, 372, 380- 
381, 394, 426-427, 469, 508-510, 
533, 574, 596 ff.; war for, 639 

"British idea," 132-133 

British Isles, 1, 5, 16 

Britons, 5, 8, 16 

Bronze age, 4 

Brooke, Lord, 340 

Brougham, Henry, 539, 555 

Browne, Robert, 312-313, 334 

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 547, 

553-554 
Browning, Robert, 553 
Bruce, Robert, claimant to the Scotch 

crown, 138-139 
Bruce, Robert, king of Scotland, 

143-146 



INDEX 



647 



Brut, Layamon's, 124 
Buckingham, see Villiers 
Budget of iqio, 624-626, 638 
Bunyan, John, 389, 39°~39i 
Burgoyne, General, 485-486 
Burgundy 188-190, 192, 193, 220 
Burke, Edmund, 484-485, 489, 515, 

539 
Burke, Thomas, 586 
Burleigh, sec Cecil 
Burma, 614, 615 
Burns, John, 622 
Burns, Robert, 493 
Bute, Lord, 468-469 
Butler, poet of the Restoration, 389 
Byron, Lord, 554 

Cabal, the, 383-384, 439~44o 

Cabinet government, 439-441, 453 

Cabot, John, 207, 208, 222-223, 2 99 

Cadiz, expedition to, 324 

Cadmon, 20-21 

Caesar, Julius, 5-6 

Calais, 151, 152, 160, 188, 195, 270 

Calcutta, 466, 468 

Calvert family, 340, 400 

Calvin, John, 267, 275, 278, 309, 329 

Cambridge, University of, 127-128; 

center of Puritanism, 334, 339-340 
Camden, battle of, 487 
Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Henry, 621 
Campbells, Scotch clan, 447 
Campeggio, Cardinal, 238 
Camperdown, battle of, 518-519 
Campion, English Jesuit, 285 
Canada, 415, 474, 604; war for, 461- 

462, 465, 470; development of, 

509-510, 611-612; Dominion of, 

558-560, 615 
Canning, George, 526, 539, 541, 555 
Canterbury Tales, 178-179 
Cape Colony, 533, 596-597, 601, 

606-607 
Cape to Cairo railway, 611 
Carlyle, Thomas, 554 
Carolina, 381, 399, 449, 480 
Caroline, Queen, 452, 492 
Carson, Sir Edward, 631 
Carteret, Lord, 453, 458 
Cartwright, Edmund, 501-502 
Cart wright, Thomas, 3 1 1-3 1 2, 3 1 3, 334 
Cashel, council of, 88 
Castlereagh, Lord, 526, 530, 532, 540, 

555 



Castles, Norman, 53-54 
Cathedral chapters, 70, 99, 277 
Catherine of Aragon, 220, 237, 238, 

243, 245, 249 
Catherine of Braganza, 381 
Catholic emancipation, 537, 539, 540- 

542 
Cavaliers, the, 354-355, 37i 
Cavendish, Frederick, 586 
Caxton, William, 205, 213, 227 
Cecil, William, 274, 300, 303, 334 
Celibacy of the clergy, 64, 276 
Celtic church, 16-17 x 

Celtic missionaries, 14-16 % 

Celts, 4-5, 8 
Ceylon, 533 

Chadwick, Edwin, 548 
Chamberlain, Joseph, radical leader, 
589; Unionist leader, 590, 591, 
619; imperialistic policies of, 602- 
604, 606, 615, 638 
Chandernagore, 466, 468 
Channel, battle in the, 288-289, 292 
Charles I, marriage of, 322-324; 
military ventures of, 324-325; 
quarrels with parliament, 325-331, 
349; financial methods of, 326- 
327, 333, 335-337, 348; religious 
policy of, 328-329, 331; colonial 
policy of, 330-331; government 
of, 332-^7,3, 339; has difficulties 
with the Scotch, 341 ff., 352; at 
war with parliament, 350-351, 356; 
character of, 352;' defeated at 
Naseby, 360; last years of, 361- 
363; trial and execution of, 362-363 
Charles II, claims the British crowns, 
364; escapes to France, 365; re- 
turns to England, 375; favors 
Catholicism, 382-383, 386; for- 
eign policy of, 382, 383-385; des- 
potic methods of , 398-399; colonial 
policy of, 399, 414; death of, 400 
Charles II, king of Spain, 421-422 
Charles V, emperor, 238, 241 
Charles V, king of France, 155-156 
Charles VI, emperor, 422, 455 
Charles VII, king of France, 191, 193 
Charles Edward, the Young Pre- 
tender, 457 
Charlotte, Queen, 471 
Chartism, 567-569, 576, 622 
Chatham, sec Pitt 
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 176-179, 187, 227 



648 



INDEX 



Chief secretary for Ireland, 585 
Children, labor of, 537-538, 545, 

547-548, 617; welfare of, 623, 637 
Chippenham, treaty of, 29-30, 38 
Chocolate, introduced, 388 
Christian IV, king of Denmark, 323, 

325 

Christianity, British, 14-17; Roman, 
8, 15, 17-18 

Church, the, in Norman times, 62, 
69-70, 73-74; reform movements in, 
62-65; elections, 65, 70, 105; 
courts of, 64-65, 83; national move- 
ment in, 117; in the later middle 
ages, 172-173, 203; on the eve 
of the Protestant revolt, 229-232; 
in 1534, 245-246; settlement of, in 
Elizabeth's reign, 276-279, 308; 
attacked by the Puritans, 311 fif.; 
during the Commonwealth period, 
368-369; restoration of, 378-379; 
under James II, 403; in the eigh- 
teenth century, 445-446, 495 fT.; 
disestablished in Ireland, 581; dis- 
established in Wales, 630 

Churchill, John, 424-425, 426, 433, 
456; Sarah Jennings, 425 

Civil War, first, 350 ff.; second, 354, 
362 

Clarendon, see Hyde 

Clarendon Code, 378-379, 384, 391, 
404, 480-481 

Claverhouse, "Bloody," 407, 413 

Clement VII, 237-238 

Clergy, submission of the, 242 

Clive, Robert, 460, 462, 464-466, 468, 
47o 
/Cluny, reform movement of, 39 

Cnut, 41-45, 46, 51, 7i, 77, 136 

Cobbett, William, 539, 555 

Cobden, Richard, 563, 566 

Coffee, introduced, 388 

Coffee houses, 388 

Coinage, reform of the, 419 

Coke, Sir Edward, 107, 325-327, 
328, 343 

Coleridge, English poet, 514 

Colet, John, 206, 227 

College system, 127-128 

Colonies, see Africa, America, Aus- 
tralia, British Empire, Canada, 
Egypt, India, New England, New 
Zealand 

Columbus, Christopher, 222, 295 



Commerce, in early Britain, 3-4; 
medieval ideas of, 158-159; expan- 
sion of, 158, 160, 186, 207-210, 
222, 234, 295, 381-382, 504, 529 
Common law, 1 20-1 21 
Common pleas, court of, 123 
Commons, house of, origin of, 116- 
117; development of, 164-165; 
controlled by the aristocracy, 201, 
438-439; power transferred to, 
453; reforms of, 542-544, 57^- 
577, 587 
"Common sense," age of, 491 
Commonwealth, the, 363-367, 374 
Compromise of 1106, 69-70, 99 
Compton, Bishop, 404, 409 
Compurgation, 37-38 
Confession, 230, 276 
Congregationalism, 312, 313, 358 
Connecticut, colony of, 333, 340, 380 
Conservative party, 394, 566-567, 

572, 576, 581, 588, 590 
Constance, council of, 203 
Constantine, Roman general, 8 
Constitutions of Clarendon, 83-84 
Continental congress, 484 
Continental system, 526-527, 529, 531, 

533 

Contract theory of government, 493- 
494 

Cook, Captain, 509 

Copenhagen, bombardments of, 520- 
521, 526, 533 

Copyholders, 201-202 

Corn laws, 420, 426, 562, 565 

Cotton gin, invention of the, 502 

Council of the North, 344 

Council of state, 363 

Courtenay, Edward, 265 

Courts, of the church, 65; manorial, 
57-58; circuit, 89; great central, 
123; of quarter sessions, 202-203, 
59i 

Covenanters, 407-408 

Coverdale, Miles, 318 

Cowper, English poet, 493, 499, 514 

Craftsman, the, 450 

Cranmer, Thomas, influenced by 
Bilney, 232, 234; archbishop, 239, 
242-243, 246; place of, in the 
Reformation movement, 251, 259, 
262, 271, 276, 279; author of the 
Prayer Book, 260-261, 264, 277; 
execution of, 267-268 



INDEX 



649 



Crecy, battle of , 151, 153, 157, 167 

Crimean War, the, 557, 569-570 

Criminous clerks, 81-83, 84 

Crofts, James, 397-398, 402 

Crompton, Samuel, 501 

Cromwell, Oliver, Puritan leader, 
326, 344, 347; is active in the Civil 
War, 356, 358-360, 372; purges 
parliament, 362; ends the second 
Civil War, 362; dominates the 
Commonwealth, 363-364; is vic- 
torious in Ireland, Scotland, and 
England, 364-365; dissolves the 
Rump, 366; protector of the Com- 
monwealth, 365 ff.; policies of, 
368-370, 380; rule of, 371, 374, 377 

Cromwell, Richard, 374 

Cromwell, Thomas, 239, 246, 249, 251, 
256 

Crusades, the, 68, 94-96 

Cry oj the. Children, 547, 554 

Culloden Moor, battle of, 457 

Cumberland, annexed to England, 67 

Curia regis, 58-59, 89, 96, 123, 217 

Cynewulf,-23, 27 

Danby, earl of, 384-386, 409 
Danegeld, 41, 46, 92 
Danelaw, 34-35, 39, 40, 43, 51 
Danes in England, 25-35, 38, 42-43, 

51, 52, 112, 136 
Darien venture, 428 
Darnley, Henry, 282 
Darwin, Charles, 554 
Davis, John, 299-300, 303 
Davitt, Michael, 583 
Decameron, the, 177 
Declaration of Breda, 375, 377 
Declaration of Independence, 482, 

485, 486, 494 _ 
Declarations of indulgence, 384, 404, 

406, 408 
Decrees, Napoleonic, 527-528 
Defoe, Daniel, 431-432, 435 
Deism, 495-496 
Delarey, General, 607 
Derby, Lord, 557, 576-577 
Dettingen, battle of, 456 
De Wet, General, 607 
Dickens, Charles, 553-554 
Diplomatic revolution, 458 
Dispensations, 230 
Disraeli, Benjamin, Conservative 

leader, 566-567, 584, 587; inter- 



ested in the Orient, 577-578, 612- 
614; not interested in Ireland, 583, 
590; prime minister, 598; pur- 
chases Suez Canal shares, 598- 
599, 613 

Dissenters, robbed of political rights, 
378-379, 394; in America, 379, 
381, 480, 483; and the Whig party, 
404, 445 

"Divine right," of kings, 314-316; 
of bishops, 316 

Dock strike of 1889, 621-622 

Doddridge, Philip, 499 

Domesday survey, the, 60 

Dover, secret treaty of, 383 

Dowlah, Surajah, 466 

Drake, Sir Francis, 288-289, 296-297, 
303, 456 

Drogheda, massacre of, 364-365, 413 

Dryden, John, 391-392, 397 

Dual Alliance, 633 

Dudley, John, 261-263 

Dunbar, battle of, 365 

Dupleix, Joseph, 459-460 

Durham, Lord, 559 

Ealdorman, 37 

East Anglia, n, 32, 34, 40, 43; Danes 
in, 25-27, 29; Flemish weavers in, 
208 
Eastern Association, 359-360 
East India Company, founded, 299- 
300; trade of, 330, 420-421, 428;' 
conquests of, 459-460, 466-468, 477, 
5331 governmental organization 
of, 571-572; loses control, 572-574 
East India Company, French, 459-460 
East India Company, Scotch, 428 
Ecclesiastical commission, 403-404 
Ecclesiastical Polity, 300, 314 
Edgar the Peaceful, 34, 37, 39 
Edgar, son of Edmund Ironside, 46, 

71 
Edict of Nantes, revoked, 421 
Edmund Ironside, 43 
Edmund, king of East Anglia, 27, 103 
Edmund, son of Henry III, 114, 120 
Edward I, as prince, 116-117, 131; 
legislation of, 122; character of, 
132; foreign policy of, 132-133, 
J 55 -I 56; subjugates Wales, 133- 
135; and the Scotch succession, 
139; has difficulties with France 
and Pope Boniface, 140-141, 229; 



650 



INDEX 



conquers Scotland, 141-142; death 
of, 144; mention of, 160, 167, 217 
Edward II, 136, 144-146, 182 
Edward III, accession of, 146; claims 
the French crown, 1 48-151; per- 
sonality and character of, 149- 
150; at war with France, 151- 

155, 163-164; last days of, 155, 

156, 193 

Edward IV, 198, 210-211, 212, 215, 
216, 253 

Edward V, 211 

Edward VI, 251, 253, 256, 259, 262, 
265, 271, 277 

Edward VII, 592, 621, 627 

Edward the Black Prince, 133, 155 

Edward the Confessor, 44~45> 46, 51, 
52 

Edwin of Northumbria, 16 

Egbert, 27-29 

Egypt, England in, 596, 598-599, 613 

Eighteenth century, morals of, 492; 
literature of, 492-493; political 
philosophy of, 493-495; religious 
thought of, 495-499 

Eleanor of Aquitaine, 78, 98, 114 

Eleanor of Provence, 113, 129 

Eleanor of Spain, 159 

Elections of 1910, 625, 627 

Eliot, George, 487, 553 

Eliot, Sir John, 326-327, 329-33°, 
34i, 343 

Elizabeth, as princess, 245, 263, 265; 
personality of, 272-274; ministers 
of, 274-275; policies of, 275 ff.; 
and Mary Stuart, 283-284; deposed 
by the pope, 284; plots against, 
286; last years of, 303-309; men- 
tion of, 280, 291, 309, 331, 335 

Elizabeth, age of, 293 ff.; society of, 
293-295; seamen of, 295-300; 
science and literature of, 300-305 

Elizabeth of York, 212 

Embargo Act, American, 528-529 

Emma of Normandy, 44 

Enclosures, 170, 258-259, 505 

Enlightenment, age of, 491 

Episcopal elections, 99, 277-278 

Erasmus, 227, 234 

Etaples, treaty of, 219 

Ethelbert, king of Kent, 15 

Ethelfled, Lady of the Mercians, $$ 

Ethelred II, 38, 41-44 

Eton College, 203, 213 



European War of 19 14, 635 
Evangelical movement, 498-499 
Evesham, battle of, 117, 130 
Exchequer, the, 60-61, 123, 217, 439 
Excise, 378, 446 
Exclusion Bills, 386-387, 397 

Factory system, 502; problems of, 

537-538 
Faery Quecne, 301 
Fairfax, Sir Thomas, 360, 362 
Falkirk, battle of, 142 
Falkland, Lord, 347, 349, 352 
Feminism, 637 
Fenians, 581 

Ferdinand of Aragon, 220, 237 
Feudalism, Norman-English, 56, 76, 

91; abolished, 378 
Fielding, English novelist, 432, 493 
Fisher, Bishop, 245, 270 
Fitzgeralds, 305-306 
Five Boroughs, 34 
Five knights' case, 326-327 
Flanders, towns of, 61; English 

trade with, 148-149, 159, 208, 221; 

and the Hundred Years' War, T49, 

151, 152 
Flemish weavers in England, 157-159, 

334 
Fletcher, Andrew, 429 
Fleury, Cardinal, 444, 455 
Flint, early trade in, 4 
Flodden, battle of, 225-227 
Florida, 341, 449, 469-470, 486, 490 
Forced loans, 320 
Forster, W. E., 585-586 
"Forty-five," rising of the, 457-458 
Forty-shilling freeholders, 201 
Forty-two Articles, 262, 279 
Fox, Charles James, 489, 514-515 
Fox, George, 358 
Fox, Henry, 463, 469 
France, disputed succession to throne 

of, 147; at war with England, 151 

ff., 188 ff., 270, 324-325, 418-419, 

423 ff., 456 ff., 486 ff., 517 ff.; state 

of, in 1415, 188; in India, 459, 466- 

468; in the West, 460-461 
Franchise problems, 539, 544, 587, 593 
Frederick, elector of the Palatinate, 

321-322, 323 
Frederick, prince of Wales, 472 
Frederick II, king of Prussia, 455, 

458, 464, 466, 486 



INDEX 



651 



Free trade, 561-562, 564, 567 
French and Indian War, 460-470 
French Revolution, 515 ff. 
Friars, in England, in, 128-129 
Frobisher, Sir Martin, 299, 303 

Gardiner, Stephen, 239, 256, 262, 
264-265, 267 

Gascony, 98, 148, 151, 153, 195 

"Gaspee," burning of the, 476 

Gates, General, 486 

Gaul, 5, 6, 8 

Gentleman's Magazine, 493 

Geoffrey Plantagenet, 75 

Geographical discoveries in the fif- 
teenth century, 222-224 

George I, 432, 437, 441, 453 

George II, 437, 449, 452, 455-456, 
463, 468, 492 

George III, accession of, 468; per- 
sonal characteristics of, 471; polit- 
ical ideas and methods of, 472-473, 
488; and the Irish Catholics, 521- 
522; death of, 540 

George IV, 540, 553 

George V, 394, 627 

George, David Lloyd, 619, 624-625, 
630 

Georgia, 381, 449 

German emigration to America, 448- 
449, 480^ 

Germany, industrial development of, 
618; social insurance in, 629; forms 
Triple Alliance, 633; fears and am- 
bitions of, 632-633; declares war, 

635 

Ghent, treaty of, 530 

Gibraltar, 370, 426, 486 

Gilbert, Sir •Humphrey, 298 

Gilds, 161-162, 210 

Gladstone, W. E., political leader and 
statesman^ 552, 566, 573, 575; 
prime minister, 554, 584, 588, 590; 
reform policies of, 576-579; char- 
acter of, 578; and Irish problem, 
580 ff.; foreign policy of , 582-583; 
failure of Irish policy of, 586; car- 
ries parliamentary reform, 587; and 
Home Rule, 589-590; retirement 
and death of, 590-591 

Gladstone, Lord, 610-61 1 

Gloucester, Humphrey, duke of, 189- 
190, 204, 227 

Godolphin, Sidney, 425, 433 



Godwin, 44-45, 52 

Goldsmith, Oliver, 493 

Gordon, Charles George, 600-601 

Gosnold, navigator, 307 

Grand Alliance, 423 

Grand Remonstrance, 348-349 

Grattan, Henry, 487 

Gray, Thomas, 492-493 

Great Britain, 1-5 

Great Charter, provisions of the, 

104-108, 112, 121; importance of, 

108-109; later history of, 109, 327- 

328 
Great Council, 58 
Great Protestation, 322, 326 
Great Revolt of 1381, 173-175 
Great Schism, 172-173 
"Great Western," the, 549 
Greek, study of, 205-206, 213 
Greeks in Britain, 5 
Gregory the Great, 15, 31 
Gregory VII, 64-65, 276 
Grenville, George, 473-475 
Grenville, Richard, 296, 303 
Grey, Earl, 539, 542-543, 559 
Grey, Sir Edward, 619, 634, 637 
Grocyn, reformer, 206, 227 
Grosseteste, Robert, 118-119, 131, \^^ 

166 
Guadeloupe, 465 
Guthrum, Danish king, 29 

Hadrian IV, 86 

Hadrian's wall, 8 

Hales' case, 403 

Halifax, Lord, 387 

Hampden, John, 336-337, 342, 347 

Hampton Court conference, 316-317 

Handel, George Frederick, 499 

Hanoverian dynasty, 437 ff., 471, 553 

Hanseatic League, 61, 207-208 

Hargreaves, James, 500-502 

Harley, Robert, 433-434 

Harold, king of England, 45-48 

Harold, king of Norway, 46-47 

Hartington, Lord, 589-590 

Harvey, William, 392 

Hastings, battle of, 47, 51-52 

Hastings, John, 138 

Hastings, Warren, 488, 508-509 

Hawke, Admiral, 464-466, 470 

Hawkins, Sir John, 289, 296, 303 

Hengist, 10, 14 

Henrietta Maria, 324, 350 



652 



INDEX 



Henry I, 68-71, 77, 89, 121, 123 

Henry II, personality of, 77; domin- 
ions of, 77-78; English policy of, 
78-80; quarrels with Becket, 80- 
85; annexes Ireland, 78, 85-88, 
133; makes peace with the church, 
88; judicial reforms of, 88-91, 120, 
123; revives English militia, 91- 
92; financial system of, 92, 96; 
last years of, 92-93 

Henry III, reign of, 105, 109 ff., 127- 
129; and the immigrant nobles, 
113; and Louis IX, 114; and the 
barons, 117; and the church, 166 

Henry IV, exiled, 179; becomes king 
of England, 181-182, 186; diffi- 
culties of, 182, 187, 198; allies 
himself with the church, 184-185; 
death of, 185 

Henry V, accession of, 185; char- 
acter of, 187; renews French war, 
188; death of, 189 

Henry VI, 189, 193-195, 198, 203, 218 

Henry VII, seizes the English throne, 
211-212; character of, 214-215; 
government of, 216-220; foreign 
policy of, 220-222; commercial 
policy of, 221-222, 234; death of, 
223; mention of, 227, 262, 293 

Henry VIII, accession of, 223, 295; 
character of, 223-224; at war with 
Scotland, 225-227, 252-253; and 
the church, 232, 233, 234, 236; 
wishes to have his marriage to 
Catherine annulled, 237-239; and 
the Reformation Parliament, 240 
ff., 265, 270, 271, 277; appeals to 
the universities, 241; suppresses 
the monasteries, 246-249; later 
marriages of, 243, 251, 252; death 
of, 253; achievements of, 253-254; 
will of, 257, 262, 272, 307 

Hereward, 50 

High Commission, court of, 313-314, 
335, 337, 348, 404 

Highlands, Jacobite risings in, 438, 
457; progress of, 447~448 

Hildebrand, see Gregory VII 

Hill, Rowland, 546 

Holy Grail, as theme in literature, 
126-127 

Holy orders, 81-82 

Home rule movement, see Gladstone, 
Ireland 



Hood, Thomas, 554 

Hooker, English theologian, 300, 303, 
3i4, 316 

Hooper, John, 309 

Housecarles, the, 49 

Household suffrage, 577 

Housing questions, 548-549 

Howard, Admiral, 289, 303 

Howard, Lord, earl of Surrey, 225 

Hubert Walter, 96, 98-99 

Hitdibras, 389 

Hudson Bay Company, 474, 611-612 

Hudson Bay region, 426, 448 

Hugh of Lusignan, 97, 113 

Huguenots in England, 421 

Humanists, 206-207, 228 

Humphrey, see Gloucester 

Hundreds, Old English, 35-37, 58 

Hundred Years' War, 146 ff., 157- 
159, 165, 173, 188-195 

Huskisson, William, 562 

Huss, John, 176 

Hyde, Edward, leader of the parlia- 
mentarians, 347; partisan of King 
Charles, 349, 352; made earl of 
Clarendon, 376; policies of, 376- 
377, 382, 384; in exile, 383 

Hyder Ali, 487-488 

Impeachment, 173 

Imperial federation, 603-604, 615, 

638 _ 
Imperialism, 603, 613, 615, 619 
Impositions, 320 
Impressment, 529-530 
Independency, 312-313, 358, 
India, early trade with, 299-300, 
370; territorial expansion in, 380, 
394, 469-470, 508-509, 533, 614; 
struggle for, 459-460, 466, 487; gov- 
ernment of, 466, 477, 571-572, 613; 
mutiny in, 571-572; fears for, 613- 
614 
Indulgence, sale of, 229, 231 
Industrial revolution, 499-504, 506, 

535, 546 
Industry, recent development of, 

1617; problems of, 617-618, 636 
Infamous coalition," the, 510 
nnocent III, 100-102, 103, 108, 276 
Instrument of Government, 367-368 
Interdict, 101 

Investiture strife, 65, 69-70 
Iona, 15 



INDEX 



653 



Ireland, Christianity in, 14-15; an- 
nexed by Henry II, 85-88, no; 
civilization of, 86; English colony 
in, 88, 252; becomes a kingdom, 
252; rebellions in, 305, 356-357, 
413-414, 521-522; penal laws in, 
429-431; emigration from, 431, 
565; movement for self-government 
in, 487-488; famine in, 564-565; 
problems of, 580-582, 593; move- 
ment for home rule in, 580, 584, 
588-589, 590, 594, 631-632, 636, 
638; civil war threatened in, 631 

Ironsides, the, 359 

Isabella, wife of Edward II, 146 

Isabella, wife of John, 97, 113 

Isabella of Castile, 220, 237, 262 

Italy, 635 

Itinerant justices, 89-90, no 

Jacobite movement, 417-418, 433- 

434, 439, 445, 592-593 

Jacqueline, 190 

Jamaica, 370, 372, 486 

James I, king of Scotland, 283; plants 
colony in Ulster, 306, 631; king of 
England, 307; political ideas of, 
314-317; difficulties of, with Puri- 
tans and parliament, 316-317, 319; 
financial plans of, 320; foreign 
policy of, 320-323; colonial policy 
of, 33o, 338, 481; death of, 323 

James II, duke of York, 380, 383-384; 
favors Catholicism, 386, 398, 401, 
402-403, 408; colonial policy of, 400, 
414; marriages of, 401; dispenses 
with law, 402-406, 412; opposition 
to, 408-409; in exile, 410, 417, 419; 
in Ireland, 413; death of, 423 

James IV, king of Scotland, 221, 225- 
227, 252 

James, the Old Pretender, 423-424, 
438, 457-458 

Jameson, Dr. Leander, 606 

Jamestown, 299, 330 

Jane Grey, Lady, 262-263, 272, 307 

Japan, 634, 635, 638 

Jarvis, Admiral, 518 f 

Jefferson, Thomas, 482, 494, 508, 528- '< 
529 

Jeffreys, English judge, 398-399, 402 

Jenkins, Captain, 453 

Jesuits in England, 278, 285-286, 
3i3, 386 



Jews in England, 62, 368 

Joan of Arc, 190-193 

Johannesburg, 601, 605-606 

John, character of, 97; loses Nor- 
mandy, 97-98; quarrels with the 
church, 98-102; submits to Inno- 
cent III, 102-103; quarrels with 
/the barons, 103-104; death of; 108; 

/ mention of, 94, 109, no, 116, 328 
/John of Gaunt, 174, 177, 179-181, 211 

Johnson, Dr., 493 

Jubilees, Queen Victoria's, 592-593 

Judicial system, Old English, 35-38; 
Norman, 57-58; Angevin, 89-91, 
123; reform of, 579 

July Revolution, 542, 567 

Junto, Whig, 440-441 

Jury, 90-91, 108, 123 

Justices of the peace, 202-203 

Kalm, Swedish botanist, 484 
Katherine, wife of Henry V, 189 
Kay, English inventor, 500 
Kenneth Mac Alpine, 136 
Kent, 10, 15, 37 
Khartoum, 600-601 
Killiekrankie, battle of, 413 
Kimberley, diamond fields of, 601-602 
King's Bench, court of, 123 
"King's friends," 473, 488 
Kipling, poet of imperialism, 604 
Kitchener, Lord, 604-605, 607 
Knox, John, 258, 281 
Kruger, President, 606 

Ladysmith, 607 

Labor party, 621-622, 636 

Lagos, battle of, 465 

La Hogue, battle of, 418-419 

Lake Erie, battle of, 530 

Lambert, General, 367, 374 

Lancastrian party, the, 197, 208, 211 

Land League, 582-585, 593 

Lanfranc, 62, 69, 81, 276 

Langland, William, 176, 187 

Langside, battle of, 283 

Langton, Stephen, 100, 104-105, 117, 
118 

Lansdowne, Lord, 627-628 

Latimer, Hugh, 232, 259, 267 

Laud, William, opponent of Puritan- 
ism, 316, 329, 333-335, 368; char- 
acter of, S33; archbishop, 335, 339, 
352; member of the privy council, 



654 INDEX 



338; plans attack on New England, 
340-341; and the Scotch, 341-342; 
arrest of, 347^ 

Layamon, English poet, 124 

League of Armed Neutrality, 486, 
520-521 

Leipsic, battle of, 532 

Leo X, 229 

Leofric, 44, 46, 52 

Leslie, David, 365 

Leslie, General, 343 

Levant Company, 320 

Lewes, battle of, 116, 130 

Lexington, battle of, 485 

Liberal party, formation of, 394, 543, 
555; reform policies of, 578-579, 
592, 621 ff.; split in, 589, 619 

Liberal Unionists, 589, 591 

"Liberties," 107 

Liberty, the sloop, 476 

Libraries, growth of, 204 

Licensing bill, 624 

Limerick, treaty of, 414, 429-430 

Limoges, massacre of, 155 

Linacre, English reformer, 206, 227 

Lincoln, President, 574 

"Little Englanders," 610, 619 

Livery and maintenance, 216 

Llewellyn, 133-135 

Locke, John. 493-494 

Locomotive, 549 _ 55° 

Lollards, 175-176, 184-185 

London Company, 330, 338 

Londonderry, siege of, 413 

London Gazette, 389 

Long bow, 167 

Lords, house of, in the middle ages, 
199-200; packed 433; agitation 
against the, 587; opposed to Lib- 
eral legislation, 624 ff.; deprived of 
its veto, 626-628 

Lothian, 51, 136, 137, 138 

Louis XIV, 382-383, 387, 400, 402, 
409-410, 418-419, 420, 423, 435, 
448 

Louis XVI, 459, 513, 516 

Louisbourg, 459, 464-465 

Louisiana, 486 

Luther, Martin, 229, 232, 233, 236, 
29S 

Macadam, English engineer, 503 
Mackenzie, "Bloody," 407 
Mackintosh, James, 539 



Madras, 459-460 
Magazine, first, 492-493 
Magdalen College, 403, 404 
Mahdi, the, 599-600 
Majuba Hill, battle of, 598 
Manorial system, 55-56 
Mansfeld, Count, 325 
March, Welsh, 67, 133-134, 146, 182, 

197 
Margaret of Anjou, 193, 195, 197-198, 

218 
Margaret of Burgundy, 215 
Margaret, the Maid of Norway, 115 
Margaret Tudor, 219, 221, 225 
Maria Theresa, 455-459 
Marian exiles, 309, 318 
Marlborough, sec Churchill 
Marston Moor, battle of, 359, 372 
Martyr, Peter, 271 
Mary II, 385, 387, 408-409, 411-412 
Mary Beatrice, 401 
Mary of Guise, 253 
Mary Stuart, early life of, 253, 258; 
candidate for the English crown, 
272, 279 ff.; queen of Scotland, 
279-282; marriages of, 258, 279, 
282; prisoner in England, 282 ff., 
291; executed, 286, 298, 363 
Mary Tudor, accession of, 232, 262, 
263; personality of, 263-264; re- 
ligious policy of , 264-267; marriage 
of, 264-265; persecutes Protes- 
tants, 267-268; failure of plans of, 
268-269; last days of, 270, 272, 276 
Maryland, 340, 370-371, 379. 399, 448 
Masham, Mrs. ; 426, 433 
Massachusetts, 338, 340, 346, 380, 

414, 478 
Matilda, daughter of Henry I, 72 
Matthew Paris, 114, 125, 131 
Melbourne, Lord, 559 
Melville, Andrew, 312 
Mercantilism, 420, 483, 504 
Merchant adventurers, 208-209 
Merchants of the staple, 160, 209 
Mercia, 10-n, 23, 27, 31, 33, 46 
Merton College, 128 
Methodism, 497-498, 499 
Middle English language, 124-125 
Mill, J. S., 554 
Millenary Petition, 316 
Milton, John, 311, 358, 363 
Minorca, 426, 462, 486, 490 
Mogul, the Great, 466 



INDEX 



655 



Monasteries, Old English, 18-20; de- 
cline of the, 39; suppression of, 
246-249 

Monk, General, 374-375, 380 

Monmouth, see Crofts 

Monopolies, 305, 325, 335 

Montcalm, Marquis of, 465 

Montfort, Simon de, 114-117, 130- 

131, 1 33 
Moore, Sir John, 531 
More, Thomas, 227-228, 232, 239, 245, 

270 
Morley, John, 590, 619 
Mortimer, Roger, 146-147 
Mortimers, the, 133, 182, 184, 188, 

195, 201, 208 
Mortmain, see statutes 
Muir, Thomas, 516 
Mule, Crompton's, 501 

Napoleon Bonaparte, 519 ff.; Oriental 
plans of, 519-520; first consul 
and emperor, 523, 525; victorious 
at Austerlitz, 525; Continental 
system of, 526-527, 533; downfall 
of, 530-532; sent into exile, 532 

Napoleon III, 569 

Naseby, battle of, 360, 372 

Natal, 597, 607, 610 

National debt, 419 

National Covenant, 342, 407 

National insurance, 628-629 

Nationalism of the thirteenth century, 
112 ff. 

Nationalist party, 584, 593, 621, 626 

Navy, English, 30, 634 

Nelson, Lord, 518-521, 523 

Netherlands, commerce of the, 301, 
305, 381; wars with the, 365-366, 
370, 382, 486, 518; intrigues against 
the, 383-384; in alliance with Eng- 
land 413, 444; war in the, 418, 426, 
456, 532 

Nevilles, 182, 200-201, 208 

New Brunswick, 509-510, 560 

Newcastle, Duke of, 458, 463, 473, 

489, 493, 496 
New England, Puritan migration to, 
334-335, 339-340, 370, 379; colo- 
nies of, 339, 352, 448; spirit of inde- 
pendence in, 379-380; reorganized, 
399; leads the American revolt, 
478 ff.; opposed to War of 1812, 
529 



Newfoundland, 426, 448 

New Haven, 380 

New Jersey, 380-381, 400 

New Model, 351, 359-363, 3^4, 37*- 

372 
New Netherland, 338-339, 341, 380 
New South Wales, 509, 560 
Newspapers, 389 
Newton, Isaac, 393-394, 404, 419- 

420, 432 
Newton, John, 499 
New York, 338, 380, 381, 399, 448, 

480, 485 
New Zealand, 604, 610, 615, 636 
Nicholls, Colonel, 380 
Nigeria, 615 

Nightingale, Florence, 570 
Nile, battle of the, 519-520, 521, 533 
Nobility, -titles of, 200 
Non-conformists, see Dissenters 
Non-intercourse Act, American, 529 
Norham, award of, 139 
Normandy, 42, 45, 52, 68, 97-98, 188 
Normans, 37,44, 51-53,57,75-76, 112 
North, Lord, 478-479, 484, 488-489 
Northmen, the, 25-30, 32, 40, 45 
Northumberland, see Dudley 
Northumbria, 10-11, 16, 23, 32, 46 
Northwest passage, search for the, 299 
Norway, 25, 43, 44 
Nova Scotia, 426, 448, 462, 474, 510, 

560 
Novel, 493 
Noy, Attorney-general, 351 

"Occasional conformity," 445 

O'Connell, Daniel, 541-542, 545, 580 

O'Donnell, Irish chief, 306 

Off a, 23, 27 

Offa's Dyke, 23 

Oglethorpe, James, 449 

Olaf, king of Norway, 43 

Old age pensions, 622-623, 636 

Omdurman, battle of, 605 

O'Neill, Irish chief, 305-306 

Ontario, 510, 560 

Orange Free State, 597, 607, 610, 615 

Orangemen, 413, 521 

Ordeal, 38, 91 

Orders in council, 527, 530 

Orleans, relief of, 189 

Orm, English poet, 124-125 

Ormulum, 124 

Orosius' History, 31 



6 5 6 



INDEX 



Osborne judgment, the, 629-630 
Outlanders, 601, 605-606 
Oxford, Provisions of, 115 
Oxford reformers, 227-228 
Oxford, University of, 127-128 

Paine, Thomas, 516 

Palatinate, War of the, 418-419 

Pale, English, 305 

Palmerston, Lord, prime minister, 
552, 570, 572-574; interested in for- 
eign affairs, 558, 567, 569; last 
years of, 572-575; death of, 576 

Pamphleteering, political, 431 

Panama, 427, 452 

Paris, treaties of, 469, 488 

Parish system, 18; councils, 592 

Parker, Matthew, 274, 276-277, 334 

Parliament, origin of, 11 5-1 16; de 
Montfort's, 116; Model, 140; Good, 
173; development of powers of, 
164-166; in the fifteenth century, 
198-199; Reformation, 239 ff., 267; 
and James I, 319 ff.; and Charles 

1, 325 ff-; Short, 345-346; Long, 
347 ff., 352, 375, 394, 513-514; 
makes war on Charles I, 354 ff.; 
purged by Cromwell, 362; Rump, 
362 ff., 375; Little, 367; under the 
protectorate, 368-371; Conven- 
tion, 375; Cavalier, 378 ff., 383, 
386; second Convention, 410; su- 
premacy of, recognized, 415; bor- 
rows money, 419; of Great Britain, 
429; of the United Kingdom, 552; 
the unreformed, 538-539; reforms 
of, 542-544, 576-577, 587, 626-627, 
636; payment of members of, 629- 
630 

Parnell, Charles Stewart, 584, 586 

Parsons, English Jesuit, 285-286 

Paterson, William, 419, 428, 455 

"Patriot" Whigs, 450, 452, 473 

Paul IV, 268, 270 

Pauperism, 506-508 

Peel, Robert, 542, 547, 552, 557,565" 

567 
Pelham, Henry, 458 
Penal laws in Ireland, 429-431, 487 
Penance, 230 
Penn, Admiral, 370 
Penn, William, 370, 380, 400, 406, 414 
Pennine Range, importance of the, 

2, 3, IO 



Pennsylvania, 370, 380, 448 

Percy family, 182, 208 

Perronet, Edward, 499 

Perry, Commodore, 530 

Peterhouse College, 128 

Peter's pence, 231, 243 

Petrarch, 179 

Philip II, marries Mary Tudor, 264- 
265; leader of the Catholic reaction, 
278, 282, 286, 296; plotting against 
Elizabeth, 286; attacks England, 
287 ff.; mention of, 279, 281, 291, 
295, 297, 299, 322 

Philip V, king of Spain, 422, 426, 441 

Philip Augustus, 95-97, 102, 103, 108, 
114 

Philip the Fair, 149-150, 158 

Philip the Good, 190-193 

Philippa of Hainault, 152 

Phoenicians in Britain, 5 

Phcenix Park tragedy, 586 

Picts, the, 9, 136 

Piers Ploughman, 176-177 

Pilgrimage of Grace, 248 

Pilgrimages, 230 

Pilgrims, the, 334, 481 

Pilgrim's Progress, 390-391 

Pinkie Cleugh, battle of, 258 

Pitt, William, the Elder, in opposition 
to Walpole, 452; character of, 463; 
measures of, 464 ff.; resigns office, 
468, 473; opposes treaty of Paris, 
469; prime minister, 475-476; atti- 
tude of, toward the American prob- 
lem, 477, 479, 484; death of, 489 

Pitt, William, the Younger, prime 
minister, 489; believes in freer 
trade, 504, 562; Tory principles of, 
510-51 1 ; policies of, 511; and the 
French War, 514, 518, 521; Irish 
policy of, 521-522; resigns and 
returns to office, 522-523; death of, 

525 
Pittsburg, 465 
Pius V, 282, 284 

Plains of Abraham, battle of the, 465 
Plassey, battle of, 464, 468 
Plural voting, 624 
Plymouth colony, 317, 338-339 
"Pocket boroughs," 5$8 
Poitiers, battle of, 153, 157, 168, 195 
Pole, Reginald, 266-267, 270, 274, 276 
Pondicherri, 459, 460, 468 
Poor laws, 506-508, 545, 555 



INDEX 



657 



Poor priests, 172 

Pope, Alexander, 431, 492-493 

Popham, Sir John, 307 

Popish Plot, 386 

Postal reform, 546 

Potato, introduced, 295; failure of, in 

Ireland, 564-565 
Power looms, 501, 546 
Poynings' Law, 252, 487 
Praemunire, see Statutes 
Prayer Book, 260, 265, 277-278, S33 
Preferential tariff, 603 
Presbyterianism, 291, 31 1-3 14, 331, 

357-358. 362, 368, 372 
Preston, battle of, 438 
Prestonpans, battle of, 457 
Pretenders, Yorkist, 215-216 
Pride's purge, 362, 375 
Prime minister, 439, 441 
Prince Edward's Island, 611 
Printing, 204-205 
Privy council, 217-218, 322 ff., 344, 

439 

Proclamation Line, 474-475 

Prologue, Chaucer's, 178 

Protection, 420, 566-567, 603, 638 

Protestant revolt, eve of, 228-229; in 
Germany, 229, 232-233, 236, 238, 
251; beginnings of, in England, 
232-234; in northern Europe, 240; 
progress of, in England, 241-249, 
256, 259-262; reaction against, 264 
ff.; final success of, 277-279, 309, 

3i9 

Provisors, system of, 1 19-120; see 
Statutes 

"Puffing Billy," 549 

Pulteney, William, '450, 452 

Puritanism, characteristics of, 310- 
311; growth of, 314; platform of, 
331; ideals of, 339-340; intellec- 
tual center of, 334-335; break-up 
of, 358, 372 

Puritan party, 309 ff., 325-326,331, 
334-335 

Pym, John, 326, 346-347, 349~35o, 
357 

Pytheas, 5 

Quakers, 358, 381, 481, 545 

Quarter sessions, 202-203, 217, 591- 

592 
Quebec, 465 
'Quiberon Bay, battle of, 465 



Radicals, 539, 543, 555 

Ragnar Lodbrok, 27 

Railways, 549^55° 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 295-296, 298, 303, 
306 

Rand, the, 601-602, 605 

Rationalism, 491-492, 496 

Re, expedition to, 325, 326, 328 

Recusancy laws, 275, 313, 404, 414 

Reflections on the French Revolution, 
5i5-5i6, 539 

Reform bills, see Statutes 

Reginald, archbishop-elect, 99-100 

Reign of Terror, 516-517 

Renaissance, the, 178-179, 187, 203 ff., 
213-214, 227-228, 234 

Restoration, of the Stuart dynasty, 
374; settlement of, 377-378; of 
the church, 378, 394; in the col- 
onies, 379; social changes of, 388, 
391; literature of, 389-392, 431; 
scientific progress of, 392-394 

Review, Defoe's, 432 

Revolution of 1399, 181 

Revolution of 1688, in England, 409- 
412; in Scotland, 412-413; in Ire- 
land, 413-414; in the colonies, 414; 
results of the, 414-415 

Revolution of 1848, 557, 567 

Rhode Island, 380 

Rhodes, Cecil, 601-602, 605-606 

Rhodesia, 602, 605, 611, 615 

Rich, Edmund, 120 

Richard I, 93-97, 104, 124, 126, 135 

Richard II, 157, 173, 175-176, 179-182 

Richard III, 211-213, 215-216 

Richard, brother of Henry III, 114 

Richard, son of Edward IV, 216 

Richard of York, 195 

Richardson, Samuel, 432, 493 

Ridley, Nicholas, 232, 259, 267 

Rights of Man, 516 

Ripon,, treaty of, 346 

Roanoke colony, 298-299 

Robert, duke of Normandy, 67-69 

Roberts, Lord, 607 

Robinson Crusoe, 432 

"Rocket," the, 550 

Rockingham, Lord, 473, 475, 479, 489 

Rodney, Admiral, 464, 487-488 

Romans in Britain, 5-8 

Rosebery, Lord, 590-591 

Roses, Wars of the, 195-198, 200, 204 

"Rotten boroughs," 538 



6 5 8 



INDEX 



Royal Society, the, 392-393 

Runes, 13 

Rupert, Prince, 355, 359, 423 

Ruskin, John, 553 

Russell, Admiral, 418 

Russell, Lord, 398 

Russell, Lord John, 539, 543, 545, 555, 

557, 565, 567, 572-573 
Russo-Turkish War, 613-614, 632 
Ryswick, treaty of, 421-422 

St. Augustine, 15-18, 276 

St. Bernard, 74 

St. Columba, 15 

St. Dunstan, 39, 40 

St. John, Henry, 433-434, 450, 472 

St. Patrick, 14 

Saints, the, battle of, 488 

St. Vincent, battle of, 518, 521, 529, 

533 

Salisbury, Lord, 587-588, 594, 614, 
619 

Sanitation, 548-549, 555 

Saratoga, 485-486 

Saskatchewan, 612 

"Savannah," the, 549 

Sawtre, William, 185 

Saye, Lord, 333, 336, 340 

Science, medieval, 128 

Scotch-Irish in x<\merica, the, 431, 449, 
480 

Scotland, geography and make-up of, 
2, 136-137; missionaries in, 14; 
Vikings in, 25, 44; vassal state of 
England, 133, 135; in the thirteenth 
century, 136-139; at war with 
England, 142-143, 225-227, 252, 
258; allied to France, 147; opposes 
Charles I, 341 ff., 357; conquered 
by Cromwell, 365; rebels against 
Charles II, 407-408; revolution in, 
412-413; union of, to England, 
427-428; in the eighteenth century, 
438, 446-448, 457-458; nationalistic 
movement in, 637 

Scott, Sir Walter, 554-555 

Scrooby congregation, the, 317 

Selden, John, 326, 343, 347, 358 

Selling, William, 205-206, 227 

Seminary priests, 285 

Separatism, 312-313 

Sepoys, 466; mutiny of the, 557, 572 

Serajevo, crime of, 635 

Serfs, see Villeins 



Sevastopol, 570 

Seven bishops, trial of the, 406-407 

Seven Years' War, 462 ff., 470 

Seymour, Edward, 258-261 

Seymour, Jane, 251 

Shaftesbury, earl of, 380, 383-386, 

392, 397-398 
Shaftesbury, earl of, reformer, 547- 

548 
Shakespeare, William, 300-303 
Shelburne, earl of, 479, 489 
Shelley, English poet, 540, 554~555 
Sheridan, R. B., 493 
Sheriff, 37 

Sheriffmuir, battle of, 438 
Ship money, 336-337, 348, 352 
Shires, 37; courts of the, 58, 89, 202 
Shrewsbury, battle of, 182 
Sidney, Algernon, 398-399 
Simnel, Lambert, 215 
"Sirius," the, 548 
Slave trade, 494, 536 
Slavery, abolition of, 545, 555 
Sluys, battle of, 151, 157, 164, 185 
Smith, Adam, 504, 561 
Smith, John, 307 
Socialism, see Labor party 
Solemn League and Covenant, 356- 

357, 361 
Solway Moss, battle of, 253 
Sophia of Hanover, 423, 428 
Soudan, 596, 599, 604-605 
South African Company, 602 
Southey, Robert, 555 
"South Sea Bubble," 442-443 
Spain, wars with, 287 ff., 324-325, 

369, 426, 452-453, 450, 468-469, 

486, 518 ff.; succession in, 421-422; 

English armies in, 531 
Spanish Succession, war of the, 426 
Speaker, the, 173 
Spectator, the, 432 
Spenser, Edmund, 300, 303, 306 
Spinning jenny, 500 
Stamford Bridge, battle of, 47 
Staple towns, 160 
Star Chamber, court of the, 217, 337, 

348 
Statute law, 121 
Statutes, of Westminster, 122; of 

Mortmain, 122-123; of Provisors, 

166; of Praemunire, 166, 240-242; 

of Laborers, 169-170, 176; for the 

burning of heretics, 184; statutory 



INDEX 



659 



Submission of the Clergy 242 
Act of Appeals, 243; of A ™ al ^' 
243; of Supremacy, 244, 2 4 6 , 2 49> 
277 of Succession 245; S« Arti- 
cle Act, 250, 260; Acts of Uniform- 
ity 260 277-278,379; Petition of 
Right, 327-328, 332, 343; Naviga- 
tion Acts, 365, 381-382,420,479, 
a8i- Act of Indemnity, 377; cor- 
poration Act, 3/8, 384, 394, 412, 
c 4 i: Conventicle, 379, 404, ** ve 
Mile, 379; Test, 384, 394, 412, 445, 
S4 i ; Habeas Corpus, 386, To era 
tion, 412, 49i, 495, 498;. Bill ol 
Sts 4 1-412,42^; Mutiny, 412; 
Cllim ol Right (Scotch), 4x2; Ac 
of Settlement, 422, 428, 433, OI 
Security (Scotch), 428-429; In- 
demnity Acts, 445; Sta ^ P r te! 
A7 c- Townshend Acts, 476, Coer 
cive' 477; Boston Port Bill, 477; 
Buleting 7 'Act, 47 8; Quebec Act 
478; Trade Acts, 479', Act ? f . Ke 
Deal 487-488; of Renunciation, 
HI- Act of Union, 522, Factory 
Ss, 545, 546-548, Educauon 
Acts, 579, 591,623-624,636^37, 
Ballot Act, 579J Land Acts, 5»2, 
<8<-<;86, 588; Crimes Act 5»5, 
Land Purchase, 588, 593; County 
Councils, 591-593; Trades Disputes, 
6,2- Workingmen's Compensation, 
622-623; Old Age Pensions, 622- 
62V Trade Boards, 623; Provision 
of Meals, 623; Town Planning, 623; 

Education 623-624, 636-637; ™" 
liament, of 1911,-626-627, 636, Na- 
tional Insurance, 628-629 
Steam engine, the, 50° 
Steam ships, 549, 555 
Steele, English author, 432, 435 
Stephen, 71-74, 80 
Stephenson, George, 549 
Stirling, 142, U5 . 
Stone age in Britain, 3~4 
Strafford, see Wentworth 
Strongbow, Richard of C are 86 
Stuart dynasty, 218; absolutism of 
Z 332, 338, 345-346; restoration 
of 374 ff.; in exile, 409 h. 
Suez Canal, 598, 613-614 
Sweyn Forkbeard, 41-42, 5 1 
Swift, Dean, 43 I_ 433, 435 



Tacitus, 6 

Taff Vale decision, 622 

Tattler, the, 432 

Taxation, papal, 119, 23 1 

Tea, introduced, 388 

Tennyson, 553 , r 

Tewksbury, battle of, 198 

Thackeray, W. M., 553 

Theodore of Tarsus, 17-18, 21 

Thirty-nine Articles, 262, 278-279, 

Thirty Years' War, 321-323, 340~34i, 

35° 

Thomson, James, 492-493 

Tilsit, treaty of, 526, 530 

Tin, early trade in, 3, 8 

Tobacco, introduction of, 295 

Toplady, Augustus, 499 

Tory party, rise of, 385, 389, 394, 399, 
favorable to the Stuarts, 435", re- 
organized by William Pitt, 510-5"; 
reactionary policy of, 536; divi- 
sions in, 54° ff- 

Towns, medieval, 3 5, 209-210 

Townshend, Charles, agriculturist, 

Townshend, Charles, minister, 476- 

477 ,„ 

Trafalgar, 523-524,633 
Transvaal Republic, 597"598, 601, 

606-608, 610 
Trent affair, 573 
Trent, council of 268 
Tribute, the papal, 102 165-166, 171 
Triple Alliance (earha), ^383 
Triple Alliance (later), 632-633, 635 
Triple Entente, 632, 634-635, &3» 
Troves, treaty of, 189 
Tudor dynasty, early history of, 198, 
T11 212; task of, 214; policies and 
methods of, 215-220; achievements 

Tunnage and poundage, 162-163, 219, 

320, 328-329, 335, 348, 356 
Tvler, Wat, i74-*75 a 

Tynd ale > William, 232-233, 250, 3*a 



Ulster, 306, 344, 4*3, 449, 521, 631 

6^2 
Unemployment, 617-618 
Union of South Africa, 597, 604, 610 

Unionist party, 589, 59*, 594, 596, 
615 ff. 



66o 



INDEX 



United Irishmen, 521 
Universities, 127-128 
University Bill, 582 
Utopia, 227-228, 239 
Utrecht, treaty of, 426, 433, 442 , 444, 
452, 456, 462 

Van Dyck, Dutch painter, 392 
Vane, Sir Henry (the elder), 3^3 

Vane, Sir Henry (the younger), 340 
357, 358, 367 

Vernon, Admiral, 456-457 

Versailles, treaty of, 488 

Victoria, reign of, 550 ff . ; prime minis- 
ters of, 552; marriage of, 552-553; 
private life of, 553; jubilees of, 592- 
593; death of, 592 

Victorian age, the, 553-555 

Vienna, congress of, 532, 536, 540 

Vikings, in Britain, 23, 25-30, 39-43 
45, 5i 

Villeinage, 55-57, 167, 186 

Villeins, 167-168, 174 

Villiers, George, 320-323, 325, 327-328 

Virginia, 298, 306-307, 330, 448, 461- 
462, 474, 482 

Vision of Piers Ploughman, 176-177 

Wakefield, battle of, 197 

Wales, 3, 5, 31, 67-68, 133-155, 156, 

630, 637 
Wallace, William, 142 
Wallingford, treaty of, 72, 78 
Walpole, Horace, 498 
Walpole, Robert, 438, 443; charac- 
ter and methods of, 441-443, 458, 
473; first prime minister, 441; for- 
eign policy of, 444-445; domestic 
policy of, 445; Scotch policy of, 
446-448; colonial policy of, 450- 
opposition to, 450, 472; fall of' 
452-453, 455 
Walsingham, secretary to Elizabeth 

286 
Wandewash, battle of, 468 
Warbeck, Perkin, 216, 220-221 
Warwick, duke of, 200-201 
Washington, George, 457, 461-462, 

465, 470, 482 
Washington, Lawrence, 456-457 
Water frame, 501 
Waterloo, battle of, 518, 532, 534 
Watt, James, 502 
Watts, Isaac, 499 



Wealth of Nations, 504 

Wellington, Duke of, 531-532 534 

542-544, 555 
Wentworth, Thomas, in opposition 
327-328; policies of, 343-345; exe- 
cuted, 347-348 
Wesley, Charles, 499 
Wesley, John, 496-498 
Wessex, n, 24, 27, 29, 31; expansion 

of, 31-34, 37; Danes in, 40, 42, 51 
West Indies, 295, 370, 379, 474 , 4 g 8 , 

533 

Westminster Assembly, 357-358; Con- 
cession, 358 
Westphalia, treaty of, 363 
Wexford, massacre of, 364-365 
Whig party, rise of, 385, 389, 394; in 
opposition, 386, 398; rule of, 437 ff.; 
composition of, 438; divisions in' 
473, 488-489; principles of, 494; 
favorable to reform, 539-540 
Whitby, council of, 16-17 
Whitney, Eli, 502 

William I, duke of Normandy, 45 • 
conquers England, 46-48, 51; poli- 
cies of, 52-54, 62, 64; financial 
system of, 60-62; character of 
65-66; death of, 66-67 
William II, 67-69 

William III, marries Mary of York, 
385, 408; invades England, 409- 
410; king of England, Scotland, and 
Ireland, 411-413; personality of, 
416; unpopularity of, 417, 428; 
foreign policy of, 422-423, 444, 45 6;' 
death of, 423 
William IV, 543, 55o 7 553 
William the Lion, 135 
William (II) of Orange 350 
William, Prince, 422 
Wishart, George, 258 
Witenagemot, 38 
Wolfe, James, 464-465, 470 
Wolsey, character of, 223; diplomacy 
of, 225-227, 234, 295; and the new 
learning, 228, 234; fall of, 238-239, 
253 
Wool, manufacture of, 157-158, 208 

334, 500 
Worcester, battle of, 365 371 
Wordsworth William, 493, 514, 555 
Workingmen's compensation, 622-623, 

626 
Wren, Christopher, 392 



INDEX 66 1 

^ycliffe, John, 171-172, I75> 178, Young, Edward, 492-493 
184-186, 229 Young Ireland, 580 

York, Cardinal, 458 Zanzibar, 615 

Yorkist party, 195 ff., 208, 211, 215, Zulus, 597"598 
219, 265 



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